Zed and Syndra's Uncontrollable Power
by BrontosaurusRex
Summary: Zed and Syndra attend a specialised school designed to help them control their powers. She had her voice cursed by a witch, and Zed can't use his shadow powers, or else he becomes corrupted. Features a LOT of fluff and cute moments between the two as they try to better understand each other and their struggles.
1. Chapter 1

HELLO. And welcome back to another fan fic!

This will be regularly updated, I promise!

This one is somewhat OOC, but I wanted to create a story from a school perspective, but it's not going to be typical harem style story, this will focus on Zed, Syndra and other champions abilities, as well as their power!

Please enjoy, and let me know what you think, I'd love and appreciate some feedback!

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In a far off valley in the distance of the Ionian mountains lay a private school, one built by the Institute of War to house and train candidates for the League, and also to house those who cannot control their gifts. It was a fairly new building, but it still held many of the accents of Ionian architecture, making it appear much older than what it really was. The landscape surrounding the school was beautiful, and was one of many things the school prided itself in, it was the perfect environment to calm these power-hungry teenagers that struggle to suppress their talents.  
However..  
It was also the perfect environment to test the limits of one's ability.

A while away from the school in the dead of night, in the centre of a thick forest, lay a cheaply- constructed arena. It was fairly large, it could host up to a thousand people, if there ever were that many people attending the school. Its stone walls stood 9 foot tall, there was one way in and one way out. Over the top of the wall, you could see the backs of people's heads, where those with the highest seats were sat. There were another 4 layers of seats, declining in height, and stretching outward. Between the lowest level and the arena stage where fighting took place, lay roughly eight meters of lush, thick grass, it looked soft enough to absorb some sort of falling damage, but in reality, it probably didn't do much.  
The crowd cheered in delight and excitement as they waited the announcement for the first two contestants, within the crowd sat a black-haired delinquent, an orphan known as Zed. He was popular, but not because he's the joker of the class, he is feared by many in the school because of his power to control and manipulate shadows, or rather his lack of control. He sat in the middle of both starting points for the two contestant, a perfect view for the fight.

It really was a beautiful part of the forest-covered valley. The moon shone brightly nearly every night, it was quite romantic, especially with torch-bugs floating gracefully, and the lanterns, lighting up the odd patch of bench here and there throughout the arena.  
It was completely and utterly full of students, but the arena still had plenty of empty seats, rumours had spread that a girl who murdered her master had joined the school, rumour also has it that she has joined to fight in the arena.

"Hey, Zed." His friend, Kou spoke as he took a seat next to Zed, but alas with no response. He was sat leaning forward, with his elbow leaning on his leg, allowing him to rest his head on his fist, but he seemed really distant, and not with it.

"Hey." He clicked his fingers in front of Zed's face this time. He snapped out of his daze.

"Oh, sorry.." he spoke calmly and solemnly, he turned his head to Kou. "Hey."

"You ok? You seem really.. out of it." As Kou said the last few words of his sentence, he looked into Zed's open satchel bag which rested in between his legs on the floor, he noticed a small pill bottle. Zed was still drunkenly looking at his friend with a seemingly dead expression.

Kou leaned in closer and asked with a concerned tone "Dude, have they upped your medication?"

"Yeah.. it's stronger, apparently.." he turned his head back to the arena.

"Not apparently, I think it's too strong! You're half.. dead! Or asleep, I can't tell." Kou closely examined Zed's face, but there wasn't much to examine, he was emotionless.

"I don't.. feel any different. I feel calmer, I didn't have a nightmare last night, so it works, at least.." He seemed oblivious to his real behaviour, Kou could barely believe what Zed was saying.

"Zed, maybe we should go and get that prescription changed back later? I don't want a zombie for a friend." Kou smiled, Zed laughed a little bit.

"I appreciate the concern, but I'm honestly fine.. as long is it stops these damned nightmares.." Zed clutched his long black hair in his fists as he lowered his head. Kou placed a hand on Zed's back and gave him a light pat.

"I know, buddy. I know." He sighed.

"Ladies and gentlemen! As always, I am your host for this months Arena Fights!"

The crowd cheered louder and louder in pure excitement. Zed lifted his head fast pace to resume his view back to the arena.

"Haha yes! It's starting!" Kou spoke with excitement.

"My name is Kai, and let me tell you.. where do I begin to tell you what we have in store this fine evening." He stood in a shirt and tie with black jeans, you could see the outlines of his built body underneath. His short blonde hair was spiky, and his face was handsomely chiselled, the girls went crazy for Kai, especially when he dressed in more modern clothing.

"The rumours are true! We have a murderer amongst us tonight.." the crowd whispered and gossiped between them, the biggest, most exciting news of the year so far was true.

"A lovely maiden, and her name I hear you ask? Syndra, The Dark Sovereign!"

The crowd cheered and hollered in support for the newest contestant.

"Damn, that's quite the title.." Zed spoke softly.

"Kai did tell me earlier what she is known as, I obviously can't give away information, but yes.. it is quite the title." Kou spoke in agreement.

"Your brother takes this seriously, I seem to forget.." Zed seemed to be spacing out again, his eyes were closing as though he were being pulled into a deep sleep. Kou grabbed Zed's shoulders as he started to fall to one side.

"Woah, Zed. We really should go to the infirmary." Kou stood up still holding onto a shoulder. "Come on dude."

Zed snapped out of it again.

"No, no, I'm fine." Zed shrugged Kou's hand off his shoulder, he sat back down.

"It's starting soon anyway, hopefully that will wake me up."

Kou couldn't help but be concerned for Zed, he was his best friend after all, but he also understood Zed in a way not many others do. Kou can't control his power either, it has brought him to near-death many a time before. He holds the power to manipulate the elements, but cannot control them for long before it suffocates him, of both oxygen and rational thinking.

"Without further ado.. Syndra, The Dark Sovereign!"

The crowd sat silently, with some whispering and small conversations happening around them, waiting to see what she looked like, what her power was, what she sounded like what she could do.

"I wonder if she can control her powers, whatever they are.." Zed spoke, staring intently at the gate, waiting for her to walk into the arena.

From around the corner of the entrance, entered a short, pale girl, with long white hair. She was wearing the school uniform, which for the girls consisted of pleated black skirt with black knee-high tights, a white shirt with a purple tie, and also a black blazer, which held the Ionian crest.

"There she is.." Kou spoke softly. His eyes opened wider in amazement as she walked closer into the arena.  
She walked in, head down, fists clenched, seemingly uninterested in being there at all, but deep down, she was nervous.

"Let's give her a warm welcome to the Institute of War shall we guys?" Kai raised a hand, and the crowd roared with cheer. Nervously, she took a step forward, and the crowd cheered louder. Syndra looked around the arena in awe, at the amount of people, the amount of magic users, and also how intimidating some of these people look.

"I never thought so much destruction could come from someone so small." Kou spoke.

"Me neither." Zed agreed.

Amongst the cheer in the crowd, the whispering turned sour, and full of critique.

'She's so cute! No way she has that much power'

'You think she took the fall for someone? Certainly looks that way'

'I bet she gets kicked out.'

The whispering turned to talking, about before she knew it, the arena was drowned in the sound of chatter. Syndra tried to ignore them the best she could, but the sound was too much for her to take, she focussed her eyes to the floor and stepped up to the stage. Kai walked up to her, and held out a hand with a smile. She looked up at him, his smile could really make you melt into a puddle. She blushed a little bit and took his hand.  
"Now now, let's settle a little bit.. for today, we have a returning champion! Please, put your hands together for our reigning fighter, Kayn!"  
The crowd chanted 'Kayn' as he waltzed up to the stage, waving at the crowd and smirking at the various groups of girls in the crowd.

"Take your positions please, and be ready to fight! As always, no tapping out-" Kai signalled to the crowd for them to join in, "-Fight until you pass out!"

"Ready?" Kai looked at both Syndra and Kayn, and took a few steps back.

Syndra stood, staring Kayn directly in the eyes, he returned the look, admiring how small her stature was. He boasted confidence on levels that Syndra couldn't even begin to understand, her hands started to shake. She let out a slow, long exhale of nervousness. The sound of cheer and excitement around her drowned out as Kai lifted his hand. She tried as hard as she could to focus on the Sovereign, but she is too powerful for Syndra to control. Her mind had begun to sway, and her eyes had started to glow a light purple colour.

"FIGHT!" Kai dropped his hand and promptly jumped off of the stage, and ran towards the entrance, where a small pedestal stood. Syndra's hand began twitching, she casted her eyes downward as she watched herself become consumed.

"Awhh, what's the matter? Nervous?" Kayn taunted, rolling up his sleeves. Syndra's vision began to fade, as did her strength, she trembled and feel weak at the knees, unable to cope with the dark magic that was slowly taking it's hold, she stumbled trying to stay stood up, but will power isn't enough on it's own.  
Zed became increasingly concerned, as did Kou. The crowd however, was loving every moment of it, there was constant cheering and chanting happening all around the arena.

"What is she doing?" Kou asked, also with a concerned tone.

"I don't know, but I don't think this is good." Zed anxiously switched his view between Kayn and Syndra, watching with great impatience, and with care.

Syndra dropped to the floor on her hands and knees, and tried to control her breathing at much as possible, but the pain and the overflowing mana swept through her entire body, she could no longer take it. She clenched her fists, and heard the Sovereigns voice appear once more.

"Want me to come play again? I'll show him what he's up against. I will destroy you this time, little girl." She spoke in a seductive and sultry tone. Only Syndra could hear this sentence, she managed to whimper a pathetic 'no' before suddenly blacking out.

Syndra was no more, the Sovereign was what Kayn had to fight now. Syndra's body didn't move when she blacked out, but her head slowly lifted, and with one pulsating hand movement, several spheres of dark magic surrounded her limp body. Only the Sovereign could use such strength, since Syndra became corrupted, she was no long able to control her magic to this extent, and only now, was she able to float above the ground, when it wasn't even her conscience controlling her.

The sovereign laughed.

"You know, it's rude to talk down to someone like that." She said with an evil smirk. Kayn took a step back, the Sovereign just floated closer. The crowd were waiting anxiously to see what would happen, conversations were beginning to take a turn for the worst.  
The smirk suddenly disappeared off her face, she clutched her head and began writhing uncontrollably.

"No stupid girl! I am in control!" She screamed. The spheres around her began to move erratically.

"This is how her elder was killed, she can't control her powers!" Zed shouted and stood up. He looked at Kou, and signalled to Kai.

"We need to get everyone out of h-" before he could finished his sentence, a clap of thunder roared through the valley, and the rain started to pour, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. Syndra's body still writhed in agony, as the Sovereign tried to fight Syndra off in her mind.

"Stupid, stupid girl!" She cried with anger.

Zed leaned a hand forward to command his shadow to move, but Kou placed his arm in front of Zed, stopping any movement.  
"No, you stay here."

"Why?"

"Because, you haven't been yourself, you can't expect me to think you're suddenly with it all, can you?" Kou explained. Zed wanted to fight back, but his slow mind wasn't letting him make the final decision, it was holding him back.

"O-ok, I'll get everyone out." He said hesitantly. Kou nodded in approval, he valiantly stood up and jogged over to the pedestal to meet with his brother. Zed starting pushing and guiding people out of the arena, other people joined in to help get everyone out. Kai stepped away from the pedestal and started walking with Kou towards Syndra.

"Plan?" He asked in a serious tone.

"I was hoping you'd come up with-"

"Excellent! I have just the plan!" Kai replied with an excited and upbeat tone.

"Now, I need you to concentrate, you have the wider variety of magic, so I need you to summon vines to grab her, and restrain her whilst I cast a calming spell." Kai had a very serious tone to his voice once more, he needed to reassure Kou that he can do this.

"Ok. Concentrate. That's all I need to do." He started to breathe heavily in order to muster up his strength.

Kou had to concentrate to get this spell right, his thoughts were focussed only on growing and controlling the vines right now. This was the easiest of his abilities, in comparison to conjuring and controlling fire or re-directing the wind.  
He leant on one knee and placed the palms of his hands on the ground, keeping his eyes focussed on Syndra. She was still screaming uncontrollably and writhing in pain, her spheres stilling spinning around her erratically, as a protective barrier of sorts, but more and more were appearing as time quickly went on.  
Zed and the others weren't even close to getting everyone out of the arena, everyone was so spread out. Syndra had a blip, the Sovereign had gained control once more, she screamed and pushed all of her dark magic spheres out towards the crowd, dozens upon dozens of them flying outward in every direction.  
Kai quickly summoned his blade into his hand and slammed the ground with it, placing him, Kou, Syndra and Kayn into a protective bubble. The force and shear power of her spheres cracked the shield all around, shattering it into millions of pieces.

"Impossible!" Kai shouted. Everyone in the arena stared in awe, Kai was the most powerful shield caster the school had, this must be an unholy, dark power.  
The Sovereign seized her opportunity to lunge Syndra's body at Kayn, summoning all power she could to end his pathetic existence. Kou closed his eyes and within a split second vines shot up from the ground, through the wooden floor of the stage, and wrapped themselves around Syndra's body, climbing upward from her legs all the way to her arms.

"What? No!" She screamed and tried to force her hand towards Kayn, straining her muscles to try and move it, but it was no use. Kai held his hand to the sky and switched places with Kayn, blinking in an instant, he focussed his power on Syndra, a calming spell. Golden, sparkling light poured from his hand and travelling across the floor, up the vines and encased itself around Syndra's body.  
Zed watched in pure amazement, seeing how composed Kai was with his magic, how in touch he was with his abilities. It made him jealous a little bit, but he was mostly impressed. He returned to pushing everyone out, but by the time he turned back, everyone had reached the entrance already. He was the last one left.

She squirmed and tried to resist the spell, but Syndra was fading back into consciousness, it was a mind game, a battle if you will between the Sovereign and Syndra. A battle between power, and wisdom, between the power that had festered within Syndra for years, and the wisdom that she had grown up with and been taught.

Kai pushed his hands further, forcing everything he had to calm Syndra, it was as if she was draining him of his power. Kou still held the same position, holding his strength too.

 _'Just.. a little.. longer..'_ he thought.

After a few more short moments, Syndra's body fell limp. The Sovereign faded into the back of her mind once more, and her purple glowing eyes faded. Zed stepped over a layer of seats and started making his way down to the arena's stage. The rain and thunder stopped, and Kou couldn't hold it any longer, he pulled his arms from the ground and fell backwards, but was caught by Kayn. Zed cast a shadow to the stage, to the spot where Syndra would fall to and swapped places with it, swiftly catching Syndra in both of his arms.

"Are you alright?" Kayn asked.

"Yeah, thanks." Kou shook his head and rubbed his eyes, Kayn helped him stand up. Kou placed his hand on his head and stumbled a little bit, only to be caught by Kayn again.

"I think.. I need to lie down.." He was struggling to get his words out.

"I think so too, let's go." Kayn put Kou's arm on top of his shoulder and helped him walk back to his room. The forest was on pretty even ground, so the walk shouldn't be too hard.

Kai stumbled and took a few steps back, his vision had gone blurry.

"My god.. It felt like my power was just, being sucked away." He blinked a few times to get his vision back, "And, eh, nice catch, Zed." He was intently looking at Syndra's face, she was even cuter up close. Her skin was so smooth, her lips a little bit plump. He turned around to face Kai.

"I don't know which room is hers, so I'll take her to the infirmary." He said, still looking at her features. Kai limped towards Zed and placed a hand on his shoulder, he also started looking at her face.

"I wonder what her glowing eyes meant. I also thought she couldn't talk." Zed switched his eyes to Kai.

"She's mute?" Kai nodded and let go of Zed.

"Yup, at least I thought she was, that's what I was told. I suppose we'll find out more when she wakes up. I'm gonna stay here for a moment and just.. Compose myself."

Zed nodded. And with those last words, he turned around and started heading towards the school. The whole school stood by the entrance, making way for Zed as he walked towards them. He quickly caught up with Kayn and Kou, but decided not to stay at their pace.

He wanted to make sure Syndra was ok.

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Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a rating, let me know what you think! Is there anything you really want me to write? Is there something you want to read? Let me know! This is fresh and ongoing, so I'm up for writing something new!  
DISCLAIMER - I know Zed basically raised Kayn from the age of 10, but this is what I mean when this is OOC. Kayn is younger than Zed though, He's about 15 or so years old, Zed is about 18/19, so they're sort of brothers! :D


	2. Chapter 2

Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the first installment of this new story! This chapter is just a bit of fluff, and also just generally speaking a chill chapter, please enjoy!

 _ **Pongostar500:** Thank you for the lovely review! I will definitely try to include some Freljord champions later on in the story, I agree with you completely, I think it would make an interesting and fun read._

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It was quiet in the infirmary. The room had 4 beds, spread out at a fair distance with various cabinets, tables and lights dotted neatly around the room. The nurse sat at the front desk by the arch that leads in from the corridor, at a table covered in all sorts of piles of paper and card wallets. She sat writing out documents and files, updating pupils and teachers health records.  
Zed sat next to Syndra all night, the chair he was sat became more and more uncomfortable as time went on, it was only a simple wooden armchair with a thin cushion, but sitting on it all night, lightly falling asleep as time went on proved more difficult to get comfy. Over the course of the night, Syndra moved and wriggled and changed the position she was sleeping in, Zed couldn't help but stare intently, hoping that she would wake up. Her breathing was normal, her heart was beating at a normal rate, there was no bleeding anywhere, only a few minor cuts and scrapes from the vines. How was she in such a deep sleep, he wondered. The nurse put her pen down, and rubbed her eyes, she stretched and let out a large yawn. She cast her eyes towards the clock above the archway.

6:23.

She turned her head towards Syndra's bed, and saw that Zed was looking very tired, and worn out, but ultimately, still sat there, watching over her. She pushed her chair back quietly, stood up, and calmly walked over to him. Her eyes drifted between Syndra's peaceful, sleeping face and Zed's dark eyes and heavy eyelids, his hair was also a but messy. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Zed my dear, go to bed. You've been here all night, go on." She whispered, with a caring and gentle smile. He didn't take his eyes off Syndra, but answered.

"Ok." His medication had worn off, he was supposed to be asleep at this time after all, but sleep replaced the effects of the medication.

"Come on my love, I'll write a letter to excuse you from classes for the day, get some rest." Zed stood up and walked to the archway with the nurse, he turned his head to look at Syndra one last time, but of course, she was still fast asleep. He remembered that he wanted to ask the nurse a question, something that had sat at the back of his mind all night.

"Oh, I wanted to ask you.. something." His words were slow, and kind of slurred.

"Yes? What did you want to ask?" She spoke in a quiet tone, again with a smile.

"Can my meds be lowered? They're making me very.. slow." He looked at her, with heavy, weary eyes and a tired expression.

"I'm afraid that decision to change them in the first place wasn't up to me my love." Zed held a very tired and confused expression.

"Then.. who did it?" He couldn't even make an ordinarily structured sentence, he sounded like a child. She lightly sighed, still with a smile, and perched herself on the table behind her and crossed her arms.

"I feel you're too tired to have a talk about it now, come back later or tomorrow, and I'll talk to you about it, ok?" She tilted her head down a little bit to get a better look at his face. Zed's black hair was so messy it, took away the edge it gave him, and make him look a little bit cute.

"Ok.. I'll come back later.."

"Go have a nice sleep, just don't wake up too late in the day, ok?" She unfolded her arms and placed a hand on his shoulder, and gently squeezed.

"Ok... thanks for letting me stay." He bowed as best as he could, and walked out, giving Syndra one last glance. The nurse couldn't help but smile, this was the sweetest thing she'd ever seen Zed do. She looked up at the clock to check the time.

6:27

She stood up from the desk and walked over to Syndra, she'd moved so much during the night the bed sheets had nearly come off entirely. She'd also managed to take her socks off during her sleep, too much wriggling the nurse thought, she chuckled a little bit, and pulled the covers over Syndra a little bit better.

"You are going to have the boys all over you." She said with a smile as she tucked her in. The nurse pottered around the room, moving things around, putting away various pieces of paper and watering the plants that sat around the room. She took her time, there was no rush, Syndra was ok really, just very tired. ' _She must have fried her brain, or her body last night.'_ She thought.  
She sat back at her desk, picked up her pen, and looked at the time again.

6:45

"Zed should be back at his room now." She murmured. Her eyes moved from the clock, back to the papers she was filling in. She couldn't help but smile and wish she was a teenager again.

Zed had been back to his room for a few minutes, he was too tired to walk properly, he shuffled about instead, struggling to even pick his feet up. Carrying Syndra from the arena, sitting on that chair, and nearly being awake for a whole 24 hours really took its toll on him. It had been a very long day, and he couldn't wait to finally put his messy head down and sleep.  
His room was box-like. His kitchen stood in the small hallway leading from the front door to his living room, it was on the left as you entered the room, and his bedroom had a separate door, on the right as you enter, leading from the kitchen hallway and the bathroom was in the living room. It was small, but at the same time, it was large enough for just him. His room was dark and cold, winter was dawning upon, he daren't open his curtains to the warm, orange tones of the sunrise, the double glass door leading out onto the balcony would be nice to stand on, but he wouldn't sleep if he stood out there, even for a moment.  
He took his black trousers off, then his blazer, tie, shirt, and didn't even have the energy to put on another shirt, after the small struggle of getting undressed, he got into bed. He lay on his back, and thought about the day, how it progressed, what he did.. and then, Syndra. He couldn't stop thinking, or stop worrying, and for the first time in a while, Zed felt.. something, for another human being. He cared of course for Kou, he was his best friend but, this was different. Whatever it was, it made him feel warm, and cosy, he blushed a little bit, and closed his eyes, and within minutes, Zed was fast asleep.

Hours had passed since Zed left, it was now 11:23, and both Syndra and Zed, were still asleep.  
Syndra had dreamt about her childhood in her deep sleep. The way the people in the village reacted to her magic used to make her laugh, their faces used to turn from a smile to a frown very quickly. She could put on fantastically beautiful displays of magic, showing all aspects of her power, from the sparkling light magic, to the mysterious dark magic, and within minutes she'd of destroyed a whole building, the older she got, the worse the destruction became.  
The day she was dreaming about took place by a river, just outside her village on a sunny day. The long, tall grass hid Syndra from everyone, she was playing hide and seek with the other children, but she was too good for them. Voices could be heard calling her name from a distance, adult voices.

' _Synndraa? The game has finished now! Come baaack please!'  
_  
She sat in a patch of really tall grass, it was taller than the other patches around her, and she just laughed, well, tried not to laugh. She sat, legs crossed looking up at the blue sky, and admiring the sounds of the trickling water, and birds all around her, singing away, and closer to the river stood an oak tree. It wasn't as big as the others closer to the village, but it was still tall. She was starting to get hot sitting in one spot, so she stood up, and started walking over to the tree, until she noticed a small noise coming from the top of it. Upon closer inspection, she could see a small, black fluffy cat. It wasn't a kitten, just a smaller than average cat.  
Syndra put her hands on her hips, and pondered, about how this tiny cat got up the tree. She walked around to see if there was any way to climb up, and there wasn't. She exhaled, and concentrated. The only way for her to get the cat down was to float. After a few moments, her feet lifted off the ground, and slowly but surely, she was floating higher at and higher. The branch was within reach, she held out her arm, and grasped it but floated a little bit higher again, the cat looked very thin, _'how long had it been up here'_ she thought.  
With her free hand, she reached out and grabbed the cat, and held it under her arm, she slowly floated back down to the ground, and perfectly placed her feet on the ground.  
She held the cat up to her face, it held out a paw and gently booped Syndra's nose, she laughed.

"Let's go home." She thought.

She walked home with the cat curled up in her arms, and the day faded away, into the back of her mind, before she woke up.

Her eyes shot open, and her vision was blurry, but she soon closed them again. Her body was turned towards the window, where the curtains were wide open. She moved a little bit and stretched her legs, then her arms, slowly yawning and preparing herself to open her eyes again. This time, she was lying on her back, and opened her eyes to the ceiling of the infirmary. She leant up and looked around her, there was one other pupil on the bed opposite her with their leg hoisted up, they were being attended to by a different nurse.

The boy looked at Syndra, and noticed that he hadn't seen her before. Her hair was a little bit messy, but still fairly straight, and her cheeks were a bit rosy in colour.

"Good morning!" He said, in quite an upbeat manner, he gave a little wave to Syndra, she waved back.

"Ah, good morning miss! I believe you were asleep all night, is that right?" The nurse asked, with a bit of energy, Syndra looked at her and nodded.

"Ah right, well, if you don't mind, I'll do some checks, and I'm sure you'll be free to go." She continued seeing to the boys leg, she was putting some bandages on, looks like he had a fall, Syndra could see a little bit of blood.

"My name is Talo, what's yours?"

"She doesn't speak young man, she's mute."

He looked at the nurse, then looked back at Syndra.

"Oh, I see.. well, can the nurse tell me your name?"

The nurse looked at Syndra, she looked at the nurse, and gave a little nod.

"Her name is Syndra. I'm surprised you didn't see her at one of your little fights last night, that's why she's here." She smirked at Syndra but shook her head, Syndra's cheeks turned a little bit more rosie.

"You competed last night?! Did you win?" He was really excited, and interested to hear that she took part. Syndra shook her head.

"She-.. over-did it a little bit, didn't you?" Syndra nodded, and appreciated that the nurse didn't blab about her not being able to control her powers.

"Right well, that's your leg bandaged up. Please be careful the next time you decide to jump out of a tree to test your spells."

Syndra laughed a little bit, and smiled at Talo, his whole face turned a bit red.

"Syndra, I'll do a check over of you and you're free to go! Just please make sure you have some breakfast." She nodded and smiled.

A short while later, Syndra was cleared to leave the Infirmary. She was given her own set of clothes to wear, as she was having a day off. She was handed a purple dress that frilled a little bit on the bottom, some black knee-high socks and a pair of flat, black shoes. She stood in front of the nurses desk after getting changed, and waited for the final words of dismissal.

"Ok, you are free to go young lady! Oh, one last thing, the nurse that was on duty last night, Nurse Ilia, she left this note. A fellow student of yours named Zed brought you here from the fighting arena, he stayed with you all night."  
Syndra's eyes opened in both shock and also appreciation, who was this Zed that so kindly carried her to safety? And more importantly, why did he stay all night?

"His room number is on there too, in case you wanted to visit him, ok? He also has the day off."  
Syndra nodded, and bowed as a thank you.

"You're welcome, Syndra." The nurse replied. And with that, Syndra left to go to Zed's room.

The corridor was busy, she could hear people whispering as she walked past, saying things like _'That's one who went berserk last night!', 'I wouldn't like to be left alone with her.'_  
Things like this didn't affect her massively, deep down she wasn't bothered, last night however, she was anxious of some sort, but now, she didn't care. She only wanted to thank this Zed for taking her to the infirmary, and for staying with her all night.  
The bedrooms were in a building separate from the school, it was built around the same sort of time, so the rooms were quite new.

 _'Room B17..'_ she thought. _'So corridor B.. room 17..'_ she walked along the corridor, switching her head between the left and right side, trying to find room 17.  
 _  
15..  
16..  
17.  
_  
Syndra stood outside for a few moments, her heart beginning to beat a little bit faster, this must be nerves. She lifted her free hand up to the door, and moved it into a fist-like shape, and knocked on the door, after some hesitation. Her other hand had a small note that said ' _Thank You'_ and a small pink flower. It looked like a larger version of blossom, but it was still quite small. Its petals were very pink, but with spots of a lilac-purple towards the centre.

* _Knock knock*_

No answer.

 _'He must still be asleep.'_ She thought. Syndra looked at his door handle, and thought to try and open the door. She looked up and down the corridor, no one was there, it was lesson time after all. She placed her hand on the handle and gently, she pulled it down, and pushed.

Open.

 _'Strange.'_ She thought.

She popped her head around the corner of the door, and saw nothing but darkness. Not complete and total darkness however, whatever light was seeping through the curtains made the room look slightly warm with it's yellowy-orange hues. She looked around the room and noticed that it was quite tidy. The kitchen counters along the hallway were clutter-free, as was the living room. She took a step into the room, and lightly closed the door behind her, she took her shoes off and creeped towards the living room, she looked through the door that was to her right, and immediately noticed the bed that lay in the middle of the room. She stepped forward, and squinted a little bit, it was actually very dark in this room, but she could just about make out some sort of fluffy, dark mess towards the headrest of the bed.

 _'Oh, that must be his hair.'_ She thought. She took another step into his room, her curiosity grew slightly, she hadn't seen him before, her mind began to wonder in all directions, thinking what he would look like. She took a few more steps forward until she had reached the end of the bed. She leaned to the side slightly, and continued to tip-toe towards the side of the bed where he was sleeping, she could see a pale thing amongst the fluffy dark mess, mostly covered by the duvet. She took another step and stood on something soft, she looked down and saw a t-shirt, Syndra looked further around the floor, and noticed clothes strewn across the floor.

 _'Oh- oh god. He's not.. naked is he?!'_ A panicked expression painted her face, but she shook her head, and continued. Syndra took another step forward, and could begin to see his face more clearly, another step forward, and she could see his whole face. She nervously leaned down to look at him properly, Zed had kind of soft features, but with a sharp edge. His jawline was strong, and in a way, you could say his lips looked very soft.  
She really wanted to brush his hair out of his face, but at the same time, she didn't want to wake him up. She placed the flower and the note on the short table beside his bed carefully, putting them down neatly. Syndra then turned her attention back to Zed, gently, she lifted her hand, and used her finger to move the hair out of the way, she stroked his cheek too, and smiled. She was really grateful for what he did. When Syndra had her check-over with the nurse, she was told that when she was restrained, she had been floating several foot high, from that height, she could of fallen and broke her ankle, hit her head, or just hurt herself further.  
She put her arm on his bed, and rested her head on it, continuing to stroke his cheek, and continuing to smile. She had a surprisingly gentle touch, and Zed's cheeks were really soft. It dawned on her that she should probably leave, as he may wake up soon, carefully she lifted her hand from his face, then her head, and she then moved her arm from the bed, and used the table to help her stand up. She took one final glance at his sleeping face, she had no idea when she would see it again, and slowly, she turned around, only to have her wrist gently grabbed by Zed.

"Don't go.. stay."

* * *

 **Chapter 3 coming soon!** As mentioned in the previous chapter, if there's anything you want to read, please leave a review, or message me! You're the readers after all, if it's not impossible, or if I can make it fit into the story, I will try to incorporate it!

Please favourite this story, bookmark it, whatever, I will be doing regular updates!


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Chapter number 3! I hope you're enjoying the direction that this is going in! As always, please leave a review, it's very appreciated!**_

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Syndra turned her head around, and looked at Zed's calm and sleepy face, she didn't feel panicked, or nervous, it was comforting knowing that he wanted her to stay. His hair was so messy, she almost couldn't take her eyes away.

"Stay.. Please?" His already deep voice was raspy and slightly dry, he lightly tugged on Syndra's arm, and hoped that she would stay. She turned her body around and nodded.

"Thanks.." Zed let go of her arm and pushed himself to sit up on the bed, the duvet fell off, revealing his muscular, and lightly scarred chest. Syndra stared for a few seconds as Zed rubbed his eyes, stretched and ran his fingers through his hair, but once he finished doing that, his eyes met with Syndra's, and she was really embarrassed.  
She turned around, facing away from him completely, she was blushing profusely, she covered her eyes with her hands and shook her head.

"You can look you know, I don't mind.." Zed was sat on the side of the bed, wearing only underwear, looking through the drawer on the bedside table, he sounded a lot more awake now. Syndra turned around and peeped with one eye, looking between her fingers.

"..You were looking anyway." He said with a smirk. Syndra turned back around with her hands still on her face and giggled a little bit. Zed started laughing too. After a few seconds pause, Syndra turned around again, slightly hesitant this time, still with her hands on her face. Zed was in the process of putting a t-shirt on.

"Ok, you can turn around, if you would like to, of course." He stood up, and waited for Syndra to turn around, he wanted to look at her soft, pale face again. She turned around, still covering her face with her hands, Zed raised an eyebrow, and tilted his head slightly.

"You can take your hands away now you know." Syndra shook her head, and after a careful thought, Zed gently pulled her hands away from her face. Once again, their eyes met, it was friendly, both of their hearts started to beat faster. He was a lot taller than Syndra's small frame, he stood at least a foot taller than him, she thought. Zed couldn't handle it anymore. He turned away and started walking to the lounge, he grabbed a blanket from a small pile of clean washing beside the door.

"Come on, let's go sit down." He swung the blanket around his shoulders and wore it like a cape, Syndra followed him through to the lounge, still stepping lightly on the floor. Zed walked over to the curtains and pulled them open, only to instantly regret his decision, he had blinded both of them.

"Ugh, I shouldn't have done that. Sorry, Syndra." He shielded his eyes and turned away from the blinding light, only to be faced by a short girl who was rubbing her eyes. Zed started laughing again, he covered his mouth with his hand.

"I'm sorry, haha!" Syndra stopped rubbing her eyes and tried to focus on Zed's face.

"I should probably introduce myself properly." He held a hand out, and said "My name is Zed, pleasure to meet you, Syndra." She placed her hand by his, and gently grabbed it to give him a light and short handshake.

"Yeah, I carried you all the way back last night, no one else would, or could, I should say." He walked past her and plonked himself on the sofa that was was sat facing away from the glass doors. Syndra followed suit, and sat next to him, perching herself onto the chair.

"You would have ripped Kayn to shreds if people didn't step in to stop you, seemed like you wanted to kill him." Zed scoffed in a joking way at the end of his sentence, he looked down at Syndra, and she was looking up at him again, smiling.

"And I mean, well, I didn't want you to fall, I caught you, then, I uhh, obviously brought you back! And uh, sat, with you all night..." Zed rubbed the back of his neck, and turned away from Syndra. She smiled up at him, it made her feel warm on the inside, knowing that he carried her all that way. Zed stood up to walk away again.

"Do you, uh, want a blanket or something? You're only wearing a dress, and it's cold in here.." he turned around after a few seconds, realising that he didn't get a response, but alas, he forgot that she is mute. Syndra nodded and smiled.

"Ok, I'll get you one." He turned back around and went into his room to find another blanket, his heart was beating fast still, what was this strange feeling, he felt warm and cosy on the inside, almost. He turned the light on and looked through a separate set of drawers, trying to find his other blanket. He moved some clothes around, took stuff out, put it back..

"I found one!" He shouted. Zed closed the drawer and turned around, only to be met by Syndra, she held her arms out and grabbed him by the waist. Syndra's arms were really warm, and her touch was gentle. He tilted his head downwards to look at her, but her face was buried into his chest. He hesitated slightly, but put his arms around the top of her shoulders, she was so short it's all he could reach, he gently pulled her in even closer and she did the same. They stood there, for a few seconds, and continued to embrace each other in a warm and comforting hug.  
Syndra carefully leg go, and Zed did the same. He calmly asked;  
"What was that for, Syndra?" He was smiling a little bit, they were both looking at each other, when Syndra seemed to sign something to Zed. She place her fingertips on her chin, and moved her hand outwards. He tilted his head and repeated the action.

"What does this mean?"

Syndra bowed instead, hoping that he would understand this time.

"Oh, thank you? Is that what this means?" He repeated the hand movement again. Syndra nodded and smiled at him.

"Is that a thank you for the blanket, or for what I did last night?" He held out his hands, to use them as options for one or the other, his question was slow, he was unsure of which answer it would be, she tilted her head to the right a little bit.

"Last night?" He asked, curiously.

She nodded and smiled.

"Oh, well, you're welcome, Syndra." They were both looking at each other again, and she couldn't help but smile, she was genuinely grateful for what he did.

"I just.. you know.. worried about you.." He cast his eyes away from Syndra looking down at the wooden floor instead, he was rubbing the back of his neck, he didn't want more eye contact, but at the same time, he did. Syndra reached her arm upwards to ruffle Zed's hair, it was surprisingly soft, He looked back at her, and she smiled.

"If.. you would like.." he took Syndra's hand from his hair and held it between his hands gently.

"..You can stay here for a while? I'll cook something to eat soon, and uh.. I suppose we can.. uh, talk? I don't know, whatever." He shrugged his shoulders, Syndra had a think about what Zed had suggested, she nodded in agreement. Her stomach also made a very loud growling noise.

"Ok, great! I'll make a start on cooking something.. what do you want?" He asked politely and smiled, Syndra started walking over to the kitchen so that she could look through the cupboards and pick out things that she wants. She had to stand on her tiptoes to open the over-head ones above the cooker itself, she was too short. Inside the cupboard were various bags of rice and noodles, as well as pasta. In the other cupboard, there were jars of sauces and pastes, as well as some cooking oils. She took a step back to have a think about what she really wanted.  
Zed walked over to Syndra, stood beside her, and looked at the cupboards too, he was starting to get really hungry.

"There's meat in the fridge too, just so you know." He looked down at her, and she looked up at him, they were both smiling. She turned around and walked over to the fridge, which was close to the door. She opened it, and was amazed by the amount of food in it. Chicken breast, two large steaks, minced beef, fresh fruit and vegetables, more sauces, milk.

She instantly grabbed the steaks, and placed it on the counter. Zed curiously watched from a distance.  
 _'I wonder what her appetite is like..'_ he thought. Using both hands, Syndra meticulously picked out a pepper, an onion, two carrots and a head of broccoli, and placed them all on the counter. She walked back over to the overhead cupboard, and tried to grab a large packet of noodles, she stood on her tiptoes, and even tried to gain leverage from the counter, to no avail. Zed laughed.

"Here, let me get it for you haha." In a singular, effortless move, Zed lifted an arm and took the noodles from the cupboard, he then handed them to Syndra and leant forward a little bit.

"You're welcome." He said with a smirk. She giggled and jokingly pushed him back, this made him laugh quite a lot.

"You have a good sense of humour you know!" He said in a loud tone with a laugh. Syndra flicked her hair, turned around and placed the packet on the counter. She pointed to the cupboard with the sauces.

"Which one?" He asked, still in an upbeat and laughable manner. She shrugged her shoulders. Zed took a few steps forward and moved some jars around, looking at each one, trying to decide on the best option.

"How about.. a little bit of sweet chilli, toasted sesame seed oil and some soy sauce?" He turned his head to get a look of approval, low and behold, syndra nodded.

"Ok, so we're having steak noodles, sounds good to me!" He grabbed pans from a separate cupboard and turned the hob on. Syndra took a knife from the block beside the cooker, and grabbed the veg. Zed put his hand out to her.

"Syndra, thank you, but it's ok! You don't have to help, sit down if you would like." their eyes met yet again.. They held eye contact for longer than either of them had planned. After a few seconds Zed quickly turned back to what he was doing and started to blush. He moved over to where she was stood, took a knife from the block, and started to chop the vegetables.  
Syndra casually walked over to the sofa, sat down, and looked back over at Zed. He slightly turned his head to look at her, a smile appeared across his face, he turned back to cutting the veg, they were both really hungry.

 _A while later.._

"I. Am. Stuffed.." Zed and Syndra both lay down on a sofa each, both with full bellies and a satiated appetite. Zed lay with his head leaning up against the arms, his feet dangled off of other arm rest on the opposite side. Syndra, on the other hand, was small enough to fit perfectly within the arm rests.

"I could actually have a nap right about now." He turned his head to look over at Syndra, no response. He closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head.

"You aren't asleep are you?" He asked, gently. He could hear her shuffle on the sofa, assuming she was leaning up, looking at him. He opened one eye a little bit to get a glance at her cute, and slightly flustered face.  
He was right, she had turned and leant on one elbow, looking really tired, she shook her head and rubbed her eyes, Zed smiled and closed his eye.

"Have a nap if you want, I'll wake you up later." She had a thought about it, so she leant back down, adjusted herself, grabbed the blanket that she had earlier, and got comfortable, after a few more adjustments, she closed her eyes.

"I might even play with your hair when you're asleep, who knows." He said with a smirk. Syndra's eyes shot open, and her heart started beating really fast, and her cheeks grew an even sweeter shade of pink.

"I was awake the whole time you were doing that. It felt quite nice actually, it was relaxing.." He said with a smirk, but it was sincere. She looked around the room, waiting for the moment to either stop or move on.

"Why were you doing that, Syndra? I'm curious." He stayed in the same position, resting head, eyes closed. She moved so that she was sitting upright, legs crossed, and back leaning against the back of the sofa, she too, wore the blanket like a cape.

' _Do you like me?'_ He thought. He moved his hands and turned on his side to face her properly. She looked at him, red faced and embarrassed, but he was unphased, his expression still plastered with a smirk.

"Hmm.. I think I have some.. Somewhere.." After a few seconds, Zed stood up and walked towards a set of tallboy drawers that stood near the glass doors, he opened one of the drawers, and found several pieces of paper and a pen. Syndra's heart sunk a little bit, she thought she got away with it. He slowly walked back over to her, and placed the sheets of paper and pen down on the coffee table in front of her, he then walked around the other side of the table and and sat beside Syndra.

"You've been listening to me the whole time you've been here, I want to know more about you." He said with a smile. She shuffled herself off the sofa and sat on the cold wooden floor, her dress slid upwards when she moved, her bare bottom was sitting on the cold wooden floor. She let out a small gasp and quickly pushed herself back up onto the sofa. Zed couldn't help himself but laugh.

"Ok, ok.. First question, why can't you talk? You can laugh and make other sounds, but not talking?" She turned her attention from Zed's face to the paper, and begun writing. He meticulously watched the pen move, this was a new experience for him, having to wait for a written answer.

 _'I was cursed by a witch.'_ Her handwriting was very feminine, and neat. Each curve in a letter looked elegant. Zed thought it may be so meat due to the fact she's clearly had to write all her life.

"How old were you? A baby?"

She nodded.

"Ok.. My next question, how could you talk at the fight last night? And why were you shouting and screaming 'stupid girl'?" He rested his head in the palm of his hand, smiling slightly, still facing her. She once again, turned her attention to the paper, and begun writing.  
This particular answer was taking a long time to write. Zed leaned forward a little bit to see if he could get a glimpse at what she was writing.  
 _'It wasn't me'_ he saw. He leaned back and pondered about the answer. What could it be? Who could it be? She took another few moments to finish writing, and eventually handed him the piece of paper.

 _'That wasn't me. My power is sometimes too much for me to handle, it's too strong. The true embodiment of my power is known as the Sovereign, that's what she calls herself. I can summoner her, but I can't control her, she is like a separate entity to myself.'  
_  
He didn't know what to think, so he read it again, slower this time. His eyes carefully analysed each word, trying to make better sense of what she wrote down.

"Wait so.. you can't control your powers either? And she's a separate entity?"

She looked at Zed, and nodded, this time, neither of them had a smile. His realisation sunk in, of the struggles that she potentially faces day in and day out.

"I'm the same." He leaned back, stretched his arms out, and yawned. "I can control my power, but not fully. I have.. nightmares every night about the shadows.." he covered his eyes with his arms, they were crossed over his face.

"It makes me sound so pathetic, but I need medication for it.. the nightmares are unbearable.. I can't sleep, I wake up sometimes because I've suffocated in my dream, but it feels so real.." Syndra gave him a sultry, almost apologetic facial expression, she felt bad. She turned back to her medication and begun to scribble something else on the paper.

 _'What are your powers?'_ She held the paper up and lightly tapped on his arm. Zed lifted his arm to reveal an eye, he read it, and covered his eye back up.

"The forbidden way of the shadow." He moved his arms and leaned up, resting his elbows on his legs, and holding his hands together. "I opened the box of shadows, and they tried to consume my mind, for days, I fought them in my dreams, the shadows I mean.. I was 14 when I opened the box, it's taken me these past 5 years to control when it appears.." He stood up and walked towards his bedroom door, he seemed frustrated, and angry.

"Sorry, Syndra, I don't want to talk about it anymore.." he sighed at the end his sentence, she was worried, what had caused him this sudden anger, she wondered. She got a new piece of paper and started writing. Zed was searching through his drawers in his room, when Syndra appeared at the doorway, holding the piece of paper in one hand, and a pen in the other. She was so quiet, he didn't even notice she was there, intrigued, she leaned th paper against the wall and wrote something else on the piece of paper, below what she had already written.

Slowly, she approached Zed, who was searching through a different drawer, and tapped him on the shoulder, he turned around, holding a pill bottle in his hand. She handed him the piece of paper.

' _Are you ok? I know how you feel.'_

' _What are you doing?'_

He held the piece of paper and looked her in the eyes. He dropped it onto the floor and hugged her, resting his cheek on her head. She lifted her arms and hugged him back.

"I'm ok, thank you for asking." He spoke, softly.

"Talking about it winds me up sometimes.. Frustrates me." Syndra lifted her head up a little bit, hoping to get a look at his face, to make sure he really ok.

"..To answer your other question.." He let go of her, and held the bottle up.

"This. Don't be surprised if they drug you up whilst you're here.. I had to be sedated on the first day, I tried to kill everyone.." Syndra held a concerned expression, Zed smirked and rubbed the top of her head, she grunted and pushed his hand off, trying to fix her messy hair, he started laughing.

"I used my shadow too much, when I do that, it corrupts my mind, I turn into.. A different person.. Like you, really.I also get excruciating chest pains for some reason.." He walked past her into the kitchen, and grabbed a glass from the cupboard. He poured himself a drink, and took a tablet from the bottle. Reluctantly, he swallowed the tablet, accompanied by copious amounts of water.

"Ugh, I hate taking that fucking thing.. Tastes so vile.." He turned back to her and shook his head, the taste made him cringe.

"Well, within half an hour, I'll go back to being brain-dead." Syndra started laughing, he joined in, letting out a small chuckle.

"Hey it's not funny! These make me stupid.. A friend of mine, Kou told me I should get them changed, he said I was really spaced out last night.. Which reminds me.." He hesitantly looked at the clock hoping that he still had some time to spend with her.

3:36

' _Still time.'_ he thought.

"I have to go back to the nurse, about changing this medication.. She said she would talk about it later on, I think she's back there a 7:30. So we still have a few hours until then.. What do you want to do?" She walked back over to the table and begun writing. Zed eagerly followed, wondering what the response would be.

' _Can we talk a bit more?'_

"Yeah, if you want to, Syndra." He smiled at her

"What do you want to talk about?"

She scribbled a few more words down, her pace of writing was getting faster as the day went on. Excitedly, she held the piece of paper to his face.

' _What are you doing tomorrow?'_ She couldn't help but smile, and neither could Zed.

"Today's not even finished and you're already talking about tomorrow!" He jested, they laughed together.

"Ok, we'll talk about that later, I want to get to know you better, I still have a few questions." She sat, ready to write, facing the paper with an eager attitude, she never got an opportunity to do this with someone, it was nice to have someone give Syndra the chance to be treated like a human being, as opposed to a perilous, power-hungry monster.

She was truly grateful, for what Zed was doing for her.

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 _ **Hope you enjoyed! Remember, I take requests into consideration, so expect to see some Freljordian champs in the near future! :)**_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This took a little bit longer than usual, I'm trying to shorten my chapters so that they're a little bit more reader-friendly! Anyway, please enjoy, as always, let me know what you think!**

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It was a new day, the morning sun was bright and warm, a lovely contrast to the frosty air of the winter morning. Syndra forgot to close her curtains the night before, the golden sunlight shone through her room, it was only when she turned around to face the open door that she woke up. It was bright, it may have given her some degree of warmth, but once she stepped out of bed, the cold hit her like a ton of bricks, she forgot to put the heating on the night before. She often got too warm during the night to wear pajamas, she opted to wear shorts and a t-shirt, which was enough underneath a duvet and a blanket, but not enough once she stepped out of bed.  
She quickly scrambled for some clothes, just something to cover her legs better. It was a Sunday, so she didn't need her uniform, good thing too, because she hadn't yet collected it from the nurses office, that, and she would have been late for lessons anyway. She looked at the clock on the wall, wondering what time it really was.

9:54.

 _'Shit.'_ She thought. Zed was arriving to her room at 10. The plan for the day was to relax, eat more food, and Zed was going to talk through some stuff about the school with her. She hadn't got dressed, she needed a shower, she also needed to cook a breakfast for him, she said she would, as a thank you for yesterday.

She ran to the bathroom, she was sure she had towels in there already, she stripped off as she ran to the bathroom, leaving pieces of clothing in a trail leading to the door.  
The door shut behind her, and she turned on the water, testing it every couple of seconds to check the temperature, once it got warm she jumped in, trying to be as quick as she possibly could to wash her hair, she grabbed the brush and worked her way through her hair, then shampoo, conditioner, until making her way onto the bodywash.  
Zed, on the other hand, made his way down the corridor, passing two girls as he started to search for Syndra's room, the girls were just leaving their dorms.

"Heeey Zed!" Said one girl, flirtily.

"Hey.." He lifted a hand and gave her a little wave. They looked at each other and giggled.

"Who are you going to see, heeey? Is it Ahri?" The girls continued to giggle.

"No haha, it's not Ahri.." He replied whilst still walking.

"Awhh that's not fair! We want to know who it is!"

"Well, looks like you'll never know.." He turned around to face them and shrugged his shoulders.

"I wanna see!" Said one girl, the other pulled her away.

"Stop being such a pervert and leave him alone." She escorted her friend out of the corridor, their conversation continuing once they had left.

He rolled his eyes and carried on walking, his eyes moving from door to door.

' _A25'_ he thought.

"I thought the rooms only went up to 24.." he murmured.

 _A23.._

 _A24.._

A25.

He stood outside her door, feeling a little bit dazed, dressed in casual clothes, black jeans, a red shirt, and a black jacket. The corridor that Syndra's room was on was a level below Zed's, she wasn't that far away from him. He knocked on the door, but received no answer. So he knocked again.

Still no answer.

 _'If she's not answering, that means she's asleep, doesn't it?'_ He reached for the door handle. _'But that doesn't mean I can just walk in on a girl like that..'_ he took his hand away from the handle.  
 _'But her door may not even be open, she also walked in on me when I was asleep.'_ He reached for the handle again. _'It's only fair., plus maybe I can play with her hair too.'  
_ Silently, he opened the door, swiftly stepped in, and quietly shut the door behind him. He turned around, and was faced by a completely stark-naked Syndra. He immediately lifted his hands to cover his face.

"I-I'M NOT LOOKING! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" He turned around and faced the door, leaning his head up against it, it was a clunky and dopey movement.

"Shit, I am so sorry!"

Syndra's face went bright red, she stood there using her hands to cover up what she could, with the shock and embarrassment, she let out a small whimper.

...

"It was mostly my fault but also yours for walking around naked with an unlocked door.." they sat opposite each other at the dining table, making no eye contact. That small amount of energy the shock gave Zed quickly disappeared. She was now fully clothed, wearing the same dress as yesterday, her hair still slightly damp, she had made no attempt to dry it.

"I did debate before I opened the door on whether or not I should actually go in.. Guess I er- misjudged heh.." he felt really bad walking in on her like that. He was resting his head on his hand, looking at the open room, away from Syndra, his mind felt slow, he was unsure of what to do or say next.  
She covered her mouth with her hand in an attempt not to burst out laughing. She was so embarrassed, but she couldn't help but think it was funny. Zed slowly turned and looked at her bright red face and also started laughing.

"You're an idiot, you know that?! Haha!" He speech was a little slow.

She nodded in complete and utter laughter, unable to stop herself. She grabbed a notebook from the end of the table and opened it, desperately trying to write whilst still laughing. Her shaky hand was making it even more laughable, Zed really couldn't help himself, he pointed at her hand and laughed harder. Tears began streaming down her face, she really could not stop herself.  
She managed to scribble something down, it was messy, a huge difference to her normal handwriting.

 _'I know I'm an idiot!'_ It said.

Zed took a breather for a few seconds, trying not to start all over again, he then read what was written in the notebook.

"At least you're aware, haha.." he chuckled a little before trying to calm himself down a little bit more, mis meds already helped, like an automated system. Syndra wiped away her tears and made her way back to the bathroom to get some tissues, still chuckling.

"Hey, considering you don't talk, you're funny Syndra.." He said slowly with a big smile on his face.

She nodded, also smiling.

"So I assume this is the new notebook you said you'd get?" He lifted it and had a quick look inside, there were a few notes about how to use the heating, as well as other electricals, such as the hair dryer and microwave, along with what she had just written.

"It's a very thick book.. should last you a while, right?" He held it up in a gesture.

She shrugged her shoulders, she wasn't sure.

"Well, at least you have a whole book to write with, I guess.."

She nodded, and walked back to the table. She took the book from his hand and started writing.

 _'I need to dry my hair, I don't want to catch a cold'_ it said.

"Putting the heating on would help you know.." He stood up and walked slowly towards the front door where the small set of buttons were for the heating, pressed a few of them, and turned it on.

"It's on a timer now. So you don't have to touch it in future.." their eyes met once more, Zed's seemed tired to her. She started to write something else.

 _'You seem slower than yesterday?'_ She wrote, neatly.

"Oh yeah.. after two days the medication really slows me down, the first day isn't as bad.." even his use of words had changed slightly, he was like a different person, he was still caring, but his blunt and cheeky demeanour was mostly gone. She was concerned. She wrote down another question.

 _'What did the nurse say about getting them lowered?'_ She handed the book to him.

"Not a lot.." he walked over to the sofa and flopped down, leaning his head on the back of the sofa, arms crossed.

".. she said I need to prove that I'm in more control of the shadow, they think gaining control will stop the nightmares, then I won't need medication.." Syndra took a seat next to him, and placed her hand on his knee.

".. But I feel like they don't understand how hard it is to control it.. No one else that has the power of shadows is alive to help me, I'm on my own.."

Syndra stood up and grabbed the notebook from the table. She sat next to him, he looked at what she was writing, he read it out word for word.

" _I.. can.. help._ You will help me?" She nodded and smiled, she also wrote something else down, this took her a bit longer however.

 _'Why wouldn't I help? You helped me when I needed someone.'_

He felt warmed by her choice of words. He reached his arms out and hugged her.

"You are just.. So nice, you know?" She hugged him back. His hugs were perfect, he was warm and also very gentle, after a few seconds her let her go.

"Dry your hair, I'm hungry.." He patted her on the head, sounding tired, even though he was perfectly awake. She smirked and turned around, walking towards her bedroom. She left the hairdryer out on the side, not wanting to put it away. She was still unsure of how to use it properly, she had a look at the buttons, but there were no pictures or anything. Instead, she put it down and went to grab her notebook, she was instead, greeted by Zed, who stood in the doorway standing weirdly dazed.

"Would you like me to do it for you?" He asked, slowly. She nodded, and sat down on her bed, cross legged and facing away from the doorframe.

"You seem helpless when it comes to technology, I take it your village was very.. Old.." He brushed her hair gently, trying to get the knots out. She nodded slightly.

"Mine was too.. I lived in a type of monastery.. Old fashioned Ionian ways of living.. If I were to choose though, I don't know which life I prefer.."

And with that, Zed turned the hairdryer on, and started to dry her hair. Deep down, he really disliked talking about his past life, his childhood, anything that wasn't the present, or his 'new' life. But to Syndra, he didn't mind telling her, maybe it was because he knew she can't ask a lot of questions at any given time. It was a quality he liked about her, not the fact that she couldn't talk, but because she seemed to listen better than anyone else.

"How's that?" He had turned it off, and gave her hair a last brush. She ran her fingers through her white hair, it was dry. She nodded and signed a thank you.

"You're welcome.." he placed the hair dryer and hair brush beside Syndra and lay down on the bed next to her, with his arms to his side and his eyes closed.

"What shall we do now, Syndra?" He sounded so tired, she wanted to play with his hair again, it was a little bit messy, it would be a good excuse, she also wondered if he meant what he said about not being bothered by her doing it. She moved forward a little bit, and slowly reached for his hair, aiming to move some out of his eyes. Gently, she brushed a piece aside from his eyes, and stroked his cheek with her thumb.

"Is this going to be a regular occurance? You touching my hair and my face when I look asleep?" He mumbled, she giggled and carried on doing it anyway.

"I guess it's only fair.." it felt like forever, but Syndra only did it for a few seconds before Zed opened his eyes again, and looked at Syndra.

"You are.. odd when you think about it." He said, quietly, she stopped stroking his cheek, and instead brushed a piece of hair aside.

"You're strangely comfortable around me, and you hardly know me…" She stood up to go get her notebook, she wanted to say she had no reason to not be comfortable with Zed, but he grabbed her arm, pulled her backwards and pinned her to the bed.

They were face to face.

"You don't know me, Syndra, and I not saying I ever would take advantage of you, but.. There are other boys that would, and boys that have." They were staring into each other's eyes, neither of them wanting to look away. After a few seconds, Zed let go of her and moved over onto his back, he was lying next to her. She stayed lying in the same position, feeling dazed.

"Sorry, it's just.. You need to be careful in this school.. There are people here who aren't just from Ionia, there are people from all across Runeterra.." He stood up and made his way into the living room.

"I just thought you should know.." he mumbled.

...

It was much later in the day, so late that it started to get dark outside. Syndra had cooked the breakfast, and even a little bit of lunch. Herself and Zed were sat at the dining table in her room, drinking some tea. The atmosphere had lightened up a little bit. Zed apologised again, and she accepted the apology, but asked for more details about who would do such lewd topic of conversation had also changed onto Zed's slightly more personal school life, Syndra wanted to know if he had any friends, she had been wondering as he'd spent a lot of time with her.

"You'd like Kou. He's down to earth, calm too.." she was writing in her notebook.

' _When can I meet him?'_ She presented her question with a smile.

"Tomorrow, we're all in the same class.. which reminds me actually, I was asked by the nurse to show you the school, she also asked me to stick around with you.." he had his eyes looking at a different direction, but once he finished, he turned his attention back to her face.

"..I-if you want to, of course.. she just thought it would be nice.." Syndra quickly scribbled on her notebook, taking a few seconds to write it down.

' _I'd love to! I want to get to know this place, I feel as if I'll be here a while.'_

"You most likely will be here a while.. I've been here nearly 5 years, and I've not made a great amount of progress if I'm honest.." She couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards Zed, it can't be easy trying to control shadows, especially when no one else is alive to help him. Feeling helpful, she started to write down a question. She turned the book around and tapped on the page where her question was.

' _What have you tried?'_

Zed scoffed and leaned backwards, tilting his head up.

"What haven't I tried is the question you should be asking.. You'd get a much shorter answer.." Annoyed at his rude answer, she snatched the book back and wrote something else down. She forcibly pushed it in Zed's direction.

' _I have all day.'_ Her facial expression painted a picture, she was clearly agitated, she even pouted a little bit. Zed looked at her, trying to think of what she would be saying.

"..Why do I feel like you would be shouting if you could talk?" He asked with a monotone and care-free voice. Syndra flicked her finger and launched a small fist-sized ball of magic at Zeds face, hitting his cheek at an angle, the shock certainly woke him up.

"Huh!? What was that for?!" He rubbed his cheek, trying to alleviate some pain, she just crossed her arms and stood up walking towards the sofa.

"Oh no you aren't getting away that easily!" He stood up and creeped towards her fast pace with his hands out, ready to tickle her. He quickly grabbed her exposed waist, she instantly fell to the floor in a fit of laughter. She was lying on her side, kicking her legs about, trying to escape but really couldn't, Zed was kneeling down next to her, she moved so that she was lying on her back, and tried push Zed away, she had a hold of an arm, and attempted to push it away with both of her free hands whilst still laughing. After a few seconds, she pushed hard enough to get Zed's hand away, he lost his balance and swiftly took his other hand away from her waist to catch his fall, just about stopping his face from meeting hers. She carried on laughing, and wiped her eyes of the tears, Zed too was still laughing and smiling, he moved his other hand placed it on the floor to give him more balance, but once she opened her eyes, she realised how close Zed was to her face again, he briefly moved his sight from her eyes to her lips, and he promptly pushed himself away, making a quick effort to stand up.

"I should go.." he held a hand out towards Syndra, she accepted it and stood up with Zed's help. He let go of her hand and walked towards the door, slowly, he reached for the door handle and turned around to say his final goodbye.

"I'll see you in the morning.. 20 past 8 sound ok to you?" She nodded in agreement, and couldn't help but think Zed was angered at himself.

' _Did he.. want to kiss me?_ ' She thought curiously. As he opened the door, Syndra tapped on his shoulder, he turned around but she reached for the top of Zed's t-shirt and pulled him down towards her, she placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, and quickly pushed him out of the door. She smiled, gave a little wave and slammed the door shut.

He stood outside the door with a confused facial expression, thinking about it made his heart flutter. Zed started walking away down the corridor, turning back every few seconds and smiling.

His annoyance had been alleviated.

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 **Thanks for reading! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Once again my lovely readers I apologise for the delay! I re-worked this entire chapter, it's also shorter once again!**

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It was Monday morning. Syndra had just woken up for her first morning of lessons at the school, and she felt well-rested and ready to begin. After Zed left the previous night, for hours Syndra couldn't take her mind off the cheek kiss she gave him, she felt giddy, and excited to see Zed. Likewise, he couldn't stop thinking about it either, so much so, he went to see Kou straight away afterwards to talk about it.

Zed knocked on her door, at precisely 8:20. Lessons didn't start until 9:30, but he had been asked to show Syndra around the school. He received no initial response after knocking, but daren't walk in and chance it again. The girls in the corridor were moving from dorm to dorm, still wearing their pajamas, looking at him and giggling, different girls this time.

"Who's room is that?" One girl said, quietly but giggling.

"I have no idea! I didn't know Zed had a girlfriend!" Giggled another.

He looked at them briefly but turned his head back to Syndra's door and waited a few moments before trying to knock again, but the door creeped open, and he was greeted by a fully clothed Syndra.

"Good morning." He said in an upbeat but tired-sounding tone. She held up a piece of paper that said _'Good morning!'_.

"Who is she?" They were eager to look, but Zed was standing in the way.

"Soo, are you ready..?" His eyes were dazed. She held up a finger to signal him to wait and walked back over to the dining room table to grab her bag. She shoved him out of the doorway and shut it behind her. The other girls looked over in shock, and also excitement.

"That's the girl from the other night!" One whispered.

"I thought she would have died!" Whispered the other.

"Hey she's actually really cute don't you think?" Zed and Syndra had already made their way up half the corridor. They giggled and pushed each other into a dorm.

"I wonder what they were whispering about.." he mumbled, cryptically. Syndra looked at him with eyes that said the words _'do you seriously not get it'_ , and it seemed to have worked.

"No way they were talking about us, I only came to show you around the school... then again.. I don't suppose they know that do they.." she rolled her eyes with a smirk and continued looking down the corridor. The further towards the exit they got, more girls opened their doors a little bit to look at them walking together.

 _'What on earth..?'_ Syndra thought, confused and slightly concerned, her eyes darting from door to door, Zed grabbed her by the wrist and started to do a faster walk, which turned into a sloppy sort of run.

"Come on, let's go.." he turned around in a huff and dragged Syndra out, the girls started squealing in excitement and laughing. They made their way out of the dorms, and onto the stairs that led down towards the courtyard. It was vast and quite open, it was a paved circle encompassed in trees, plants and beautiful flowers, it was almost as big as the arena, she thought.

"It's easy to get around this place, it's just learning where's socially acceptable.. That's a lot to talk about though, it will come in time.." He was dragging her across the courtyard, she had short legs could hardly keep up with his wide strides, directly across from the dormitory building lay the school itself, the grand entrance seemingly soaking up all of the sunlight. He dragged her up the small set of stairs, and led her into the open corridor. There were chairs, a front desk and lockers for students to put their shoes into.

"This place may be run by the Institute of War.. We still have our culture." He said as he grabbed a spare pair of shoes from his locker for Syndra. She looked all around, trying to get the general gist of her bearings, as well as trying to take it all in.

"To the left down there is where the students with physical power are tutored, straight ahead is magic, and to the right would be me.. and you." He slowly lead her down the right side corridor, passing a few empty and somewhat disfigured classrooms along the way.

"These rooms are different to the rest of the school.." he pulled her into the very last room on the corridor and turned the lights on, he gently let go of her hand, and she slowly wandered around the front row of desks.

"They're reinforced with a hextech protection barrier, and Piltovan steel.." he sat on the teachers desk, facing the whole room. The ceiling was about 10 foot tall, and it went further back than she had anticipated. The walls were painted a light brown colour, and there was a single wall of windows towards the back of the room.

"This is for students who are a danger to themselves and the rest of the school... like me.. and now, you.." he was very spaced out, seemingly struggling to stay awake.

"This was where I got put to sleep, actually.." he chuckled a little bit and stood up from the front desk and walked towards the wall behind him, Syndra followed, listening intently.

"Someone pissed me off.. his name is Tryndamere.. the teacher left and he challenged me to a fight, I of course said yes.. God I was so cocky.." He looked at the section in the wall which had large lacerations around Zed's head height. He lifted a hand up and traced over the marks.

"I was relying too much on my shadow, he quickly became uncontrollable, I faded away from reason, and started to follow my shadows orders.."

 _"Zed you need to calm down dude, I didn't mean a real fight!" Tryndamere stood with his arms held up, his blade sitting at his feet, he was taking steps back._

 _"You may not have, but I did." His voice sounded menacing, it was not what Zed ordinarily sounded like, it was dark and sinister, like he had been possessed by a demon, his eyes were also glowing a ghastly red colour._  
 _Zed jumped at him blade in hand, as did his shadow, lunging for Tryndamere's neck, but missing by a few inches, his blade became stuck in the wall, he seized his opportunity and pushed Zed away with great force, causing his blade to snap in the wall, he ran past Zed and into the corridor, in a desperate attempt to get away._

 _"Holy shit he pierced the wall!" Kou shouted, followed by screams and people gasping in shock._

 _"Piece of shit!" Zed shouted, he turned and lunged towards the open door. His mind was truly gone, whatever humanity was left in Zed had now disappeared, he walked down the corridor, hunched over, crazily stalking towards Tryndamere, who stood at the end of the corridor with Karma._

 _"What has happened here?!" Karma shouted_

 _"I told him to fight me and this happened!" Tryndamere desperately tried to defend his actions._

 _"Stupid child.. run and call for the nurse, he needs to be sedated, now!" With great speed, Tryndamere ran down the corridor, all that was left now was to restrain Zed._

 _"I could kill all of you.. You're all so weak!" he laughed maniacally, leaning against the wall and clutching his chest in pain. He inhaled sharply and stumbled a few steps._

 _"Do not waste your words on me Zed."_

 _"I'll waste my words if I so fucking please." He fell to his knees, his shadow followed behind him, watching Zed suffer. In the doorway to the classroom stood Kou, with his hands touching the floor. The teacher nodded from the end of the corridor, and within a split second, Zed was pulled down to the floor by copious amounts of vines._

 _"Get these things off of me!" He screamed. His head was pulled towards the floor by a large vine, obstructing his eye sight. The vines tightened their grip, Zed continued fighting, the shadow stood idly, menacingly looking at Kou. Slowly, it turned around and began walking towards him, but the walk turned into a jog, then a run, then a sprint and with one swift movement, the shadow leaped at Kou, aiming for his heart with his shadow blade, but he disappeared into the shadows around them, leaving nought but a small cut on his clothing._  
 _Zed cried out in pain, the nurse arrived with the needle to force him into a deep sleep, within seconds his body became weak._

 _"I will.. kill you.. all.." he mumbled, before being knocked out cold._

.. "And the next thing I knew, I woke up in the nurse's office, feeling like I was in a dream.. For a short while, I wasn't even sure if it had happened.." She stood, feeling a little bit intimidated at how he changed.

"I remember it so vividly, I was telling myself to stop, but I-.. Just couldn't.." She sympathised with him, this is exactly how she was with the Sovereign.

"For a while, I stayed at the top of the class, like the alpha male I guess.. but as time went on, and I was put on stronger medication, I quickly slipped to the bottom.. I became less and less threatening.." he looked at her with an empty smile, she suddenly didn't feel intimidated anymore, his words made perfect sense, perhaps this is why the girls swoon over him.

".. Now I'm just a normal pupil.. That some people are still scared of.. and that some girls really like, I guess.." he blushed at the end of his sentence. Syndra reached for her bag and took her notebook out, she leaned on the teacher's desk and started writing.

 _'Do you always get that much attention from girls?'_

"Yeah, I do.." He looked at her, feeling as though this girl in front of him was different to all the rest. He hesitated to say his next sentence, there was something he really wanted to show her.

"Syndra? There's somewhere else that I want to show you.." intrigued, she stood up and followed Zed, leaving her notebook and bag behind on the teacher's desk. They stepped out of the classroom, Zed looked down both sides of the corridor, grabbed Syndra's wrist once more and began walking to the left of the corridor, the opposite way to the entrance, they turned the corner, and were met by a set of stairs that seemed to go down in a u-shape, that were blocked by chains stretching from one wall to the other that held a signs reading ' _Student access is forbidden'._

"It's just down here." He grabbed the chain and lifted it up, gently pulling on Syndra's hand to let her go first, she pulled back hesitantly.

"What? You don't want to go down here?" She shook her head and jerked her hand away from him, starting to walk backwards, until some deep male voices could be heard at the end of the corridor. She turned her head but Zed used both hands to pull Syndra back towards the stairs.

"Quickly!" He whispered, pushing her underneath the chain, her butt landed on the cold floor, she whimpered, Zed moved behind her and put his hand over her mouth. The voices and footsteps were becoming louder and more clear, they were moving faster, he put his arm around her waist and lifted her around the corner of the stairs, he leant his back against the wall with Syndra sat between his legs. The footsteps were at the top of the stairs.

"I swear I heard a noise.. It sounded high-pitched.. Like a squeal.." The male voices took a few steps closer.

"Are you sure it was Zed and Syndra that walked into the school?" Zed's eyes lit up, he listened eagerly to what they had to say.

"That's what the girls were talking about, he came to her room and brought her in the classroom, fuck knows where they are now."

"He's made a pretty quick move on that girl already, going to her bedroom, tsk.." Syndra became a little bit worried upon hearing the words, she froze.

"It's not like he'll do anything with her, Zed's too proud of a guy." Her worry disappeared, but she still felt uncomfortable.

"Too much of a pussy more like hahaha!"

"Haha! The things I would do to that small body if I ever got my hands on her.." he slapped him.

"Don't be so disgusting, Tryn."

"What? You're telling me you wouldn't do anything given the chance?"

"Well- That's not what I'm trying to say-"

"See! You'd totally fuck her." They laughed, thinking it was hilarious to jest at the action, but Zed lowered his head and rested it on Syndra's shoulder, he clutched her tighter.

" _Over my dead body.."_ He mumbled. Syndra felt a bit more comfortable, and gently pulled his hands away from her mouth and rested them on her waist, he held her tighter again. The two voices started to walk off, away from the stairs. They both listened intently for the footsteps and voices to fade, before exhaling in relief. Syndra crawled forward and sat up against the wall, sitting opposite Zed on the top step, looking down at the gloomy storage area at the bottom of the stairs.

"That was Tryndamere and Darius.. Two people I hate the most in this hell-hole.." He rested his head against the back of the wall. She looked down the stairs, it was actually a dead end, it looked like a box, there were a few chairs, a table and a cupboard messily left at the bottom, collecting dust. Zed admired her face, it was so pure, her features were soft and child-like, she had this aura of innocence, as though she didn't understand what the two barbarians were talking about. He shuffled along the top step towards her, and lifted a gentle hand to hold her face. The feeling startled her, she jumped a little bit and looked him in the eyes, her hands were resting on her legs.

"Syndra, I.. I meant what I said.." She wasn't sure what he meant, so she tilted her head a little bit. He chuckled.

"This was what I was trying to tell you yesterday..I won't let them do anything to you, that's a promise." He gently rubbed her cheek with his thumb, she was truly comforted by his words, he had shown her such compassion and care, it was something she hadn't felt much, she didn't know how to react. A smile appeared on her face, she reached out for a hug, and Zed obliged, holding her by the waist.

"Lesson doesn't start for a while.. We can just relax here if you want?" She thought about it for a moment, before leaning back and nodding in agreement, still smiling.

"Shall we sit down on those chairs?" He gestured towards the chairs at the bottom, they were wooden with a cushion on the bottom and the back of chair. He stood and pulled Syndra up with him, holding her hand and leading her down the stairs, but she misjudged a step and tripped, pulling Zed down with her. She opened her eyes, and was met with Zed's calm face, just inches away from her own, she wasn't sure if now was the time or place, but she really wanted to kiss him, properly this time. She couldn't stop looking at his lips, they looked so soft.

"Syndra.." He leaned closer, their noses nearly touching. Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest, she really wanted to kiss him, but she just lay there feeling helpless.

"..You are so clumsy.." he shook his head and smiled. He pushed himself up, and offered out a hand to her. He moved two chairs around so that they were facing each other. He felt annoyed, but tried not to let the feeling show.

"Let's sit down, shall we?" He sat on one chair, resting his legs on one of the tables, whilst Syndra sheepishly took a seat.

' _I missed my chance..'_ he thought to himself.

' _I could have kissed him.. Again..'_ She thought.

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 **A/N: Let me know what you think of the general length of this chapter! Is it too short, too long? Drop a review, or leave me a message and let me know!  
(I allow anonymous reviews as an FYI!)**


	6. Chapter 6

"Hello and good morning class, did we all have a nice weekend?" Asked Karma. She received a few mumbles of 'yes' and some 'no', but a majority of responses were positive.

"As we are all now aware, we have a new student, no introductions needed, of course.." The class giggled and whispered amongst themselves, they were clearly talking about the fight between Syndra and Kayn.

"I trust you saw the events that unfolded Friday night, let that be a lesson to you all!" She lifted her head and looked at the class, she received mixed facial expressions, some taken aback, others not bothered.

"Now, first thing on the agenda.." She looked around the room, stopping her sights on Zed and Syndra, who were sat next to each other in the front of the class.

"There have been new rules set in place for pupils who take part in the monthly fights.." everyone in the class perked up and listened intently, waiting for the rules to be revealed.

"No one from this class are allowed to take part in competing until you have proven your control over your powers." The revelation was followed by sighing, outbursts of anger, and ultimately, blaming. Syndra slowly sunk into her seat.

"This is because of her isn't it?! The new girl appears and ruins everything for everyone else!" Ashe shouted, people all around the room were agreeing with her.

"Yeah I bet that's why!" Agreed another pupil. Syndra sunk further into her seat, knowing that she couldn't defend herself. Zed was desperate to say something in order to defend her, he stood up and shouted at Ashe.

"She's not the only person in here to have nearly killed someone, last time I recall you nearly killed yourself because of your own bow." His comment was met with multiple bouts of laughter and agreement, the class was now siding with Zed. In an outburst of frustration and anger, she responded.

"Pfft! You're only saying that because she's your girlfriend! A sad attempt to regain your status." She sat back down and flipped her hair to the side, the class oohing and aahing at Zed and Syndra. Syndra's face turned bright red, she gasped and hurled a ball of magic at Ashe's face but it was stopped by Tryndamere, who stood in the way of the oncoming attack.

"That's ENOUGH." Karma shouted from the front. The class stopped talking, and instead, paid close attention back to Karma.

"Syndra we do not offensively use magic unless asked to do so, do that again and I think you'll find yourself in hot water young lady." Karma was already fed up of today, she wanted to go and rest, but alas, it was 9:06 in the morning. Syndra sat down and turned to look at Ashe and Tryndamere, the pair of them sniggering to each other, Zed also turned and looked at the both of them, they shortly stopped.

"That magic.. Barely left a scratch on the surface!" He spoke, followed by an outburst of laughter.

"Just ignore them, they aren't worth your time.."

 _Some time later..._

The morning part of the lesson consisted of learning how to balance the mind. This was a daily occurrence for the class, balance was the ultimate key to controlling one's powers, as well as learning how to keep a good frame of mind. Peace and tranquility were two of Karma's many attributes, this made her a near-perfect teacher when it came to students that lack control over their abilities. Syndra hadn't learnt a lot, to her, it was the same sort of drivel she was taught in her village, except here, her powers aren't being forcibly weakened, this, she thought, she could settle with.

".. And that concludes our morning lesson. It's 12:00 now, so I want you all back here for 1:30.

Syndra looked like she was on a mission. Zed had offered to cook the three of them dinner, so that her and Kou could talk and get to know each other properly. She stood up, grabbed her bag and her book and marched out the door, leaving Zed and Kou behind her. They rushed to gather their things too.

They headed out the door, looking down the corridor trying to find her, she was so short amongst the rest of the crowd, Zed managed to spot her white hair swiftly exiting the corridor, leading out to the dorms.

"Come on, let's get a move on, she won't wait for us you know." Zed started marching down the corridor, weaving his way in and out of the people walking at different paces. Kou could barely keep up.

"So who's are we going to again?" Kou asked, trying to follow Zed's movement.

"Mine, I said I'd cook so you two can talk properly.. That and I don't think it's appropriate for her to have two boys in her room anyway.." As they sped up the pace, Kou questioned Zed.

"What do you mean not-appropriate? Haven't you been to her room?" Zed hadn't actually told Kou he'd been into her room, he said he stood outside.

"No.." Zed didn't look at him, Kou became a little bit suspicious but they carried on speed walking towards to exit. Once they got there, there was a flood of people surrounding the courtyard, a mix of both pupils and teachers. Her long flowy hair was the only thing that could be successfully spotted amongst the crowd, they tried to run to catch up with her, but she seemed to freely move through the crowd with no issues. She got to the stairs and started making her way up them.

"She seems comfortable with going to your room though Zed." Kou jested.

"I explained to her this morning she's not to go there alone.." they had escaped the crowd of people, now they just speed walked up the stairs towards Zed's room.

"Oh, so she's been warned about-"

"Yeah, she has.. No way am I letting anything happen to her.. Not if I can't help it anyway.." they quickly stepped up the stairs, she was nowhere in sight.

"Hey, maybe she's too much for you to handle ey?" Kou elbowed Zed and started laughing.

"Piss off!" He laughed. "She just really likes food, especially free food."

"No wonder you get on so well then, you have a lot in common." Kou was happy for his friend, Zed never did even bother with other people this much, especially the girls. They both made it to the B floor, and walked fast paced towards the glass set of doors, leading into the dorm corridor. Syndra was stood outside his bedroom door, Kayn was talking to her, Zed felt a wave of relief seeing him standing there, talking to her.

"So about the fight, don't worry about it, ok? I was fine, I mean-" he scrambled to remove his jumper and unbutton his shirt, Syndra looked away, moving her eyesight past Kayn seeing Zed and Kou coming down the corridor, she started laughing and held her hands up to Kayn to shield her eyes. Zed and Kou started laughing.

"What are you doing you fool?" Zed laughed.

"Just reassuring her that I wasn't hurt from the fight, look at me! Not a single scratch." He willingly showed off his torso to both of them.

"That's great, but stop being lewd, Kayn."

"I'm not being lewd! I'm being kind, I'm reassuring her!" Syndra looked at Zed, he looked back at her, both of them smiling, finding the situation hilarious.

Zed reached for his door and unlocked it, he stood in the doorway, one hand on the door handle and the other gesturing the two of them into his room.

"Come on, let's eat." He laughed, welcoming Syndra and Kou into his room.

"Would you care to join us, young sir?" Zed joked in a posh, regal accent.

"I would but, you know me, strict diet and all." He flexed midway through buttoning his shirt up. Zed pushed his shoulder.

"You make me sick!" Zed laughed, Kayn began walking backwards, buttoning his shirt up and holding his jumper over one arm.

"See ya!" He shouted. Zed waved and closed the door behind him

"He's so weird." Kou laughed, he sat down on the sofa next to Syndra. Zed straightaway began to get the food ready to be cooked, they were all so hungry. Syndra's stomach rumbled at the mere sight of Zed organising himself with the food.

"I see you're hungry too." She laughed and made herself comfortable on the seat. Kou was leaning on his side, resting his head against the back of the sofa, ready to understand Syndra a bit more.

"So, tell me.." He lowered his voice in the hope that Zed wouldn't hear.

"Has anything happened between you two? In the infirmary" He smirked, Syndra just smiled, and instantly looked at Zed, who was watching Kou like a hawk. He pointed a knife at him.

"You better watch your mouth or it's just me and Syndra eating, you can go to your own damn room.." He smirked at the end of his sentence, sounding under the weather. Kou thought about his choice of words carefully, but something was really bugging him.

"Zed, we're friends, aren't we?" Confused, Zed looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes..?" He said, sounding unsure.

"We can be completely honest with each other?" He asked in a questioning manner, Zed shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, why wouldn't we be?"

"When are you going to stop taking that medication? Syndra doesn't really know what you're like." Zed shook his head and turned around, they had this conversation before.

"When I stop having nightmares."

"Are you sure the nightmares are because of your shadows, Zed? Is there nothing going on in that dark brain of yours?"

"See, this is the question I ask myself.. Can we talk about this later?" He sighed. Kou's smiled disappeared, in his head, he thought 'I worry for him' and it was true, he did worry for his friend, in a lot of ways. Kou looked over at Syndra, in a way, she looked startled, like a meerkat. She was intrigued by the conversation.

"When the time is right." he said.

"Syndra.. where are you from? How exactly did you end up here?" He was lying back in a relaxed position, acting quite casual. She started writing. After a few moments, she responded with ' _My village didn't have a name, but I'm from the south of the valley. And I was brought here by the Institution, as soon as they heard about the elder.'_

"Ahh right.. so.. what led you to kill him? If you don't mind my asking?" She sat back with her arms crossed and fiddled about with the pen, thinking of her answer, and how to write it. After all, it happened little over a week ago, just days before her arrival at the institution.

' _I killed him because he tried to control my powers, I hated it.'_ She held the book before him, after reading it, he looked at her with eyes that spoke of sympathy. She wrote something else. ' _I'm sure you two would feel the same.'_ Kou's heart sunk a little, Zed had in fact done the same thing as Syndra, he didn't want to mention it to her, it wasn't his place to do so.

"I don't blame you at all if I'm honest.. anyway, are you feeling better?" She nodded and smiled in response.

"Good, I thought you would have had a longer recovery time if I'm honest, it looked like quite the ordeal." He couldn't help but giggle, Syndra looked at him with a smirk and pushed him away jokingly.

"Seriously, I can't help but laugh, you know we had to evacuate everyone from the arena right?" She actually didn't know that, Zed hadn't told her. She threw a pillow at him as he was cooking. He laughed.

"I seriously dread to think what could have happened if you carried on." Zed spoke.

"When Zed turned all berserk it was bad, we thought we had completely lost him. Same with you, really." He looked at Syndra, and turned his head towards Zed.

"But the way he carried you to the infirmary was really cute!" He and Syndra started laughing, but Zed felt embarrassed.

"No one else was going to do it!" Zed spoke back.

"Ahh, so that's your excuse." He said with a smirk. Zed gritted his teeth and spoke under his breath.

"Fuck you." He muttered with a smile. Syndra laughed.

Over some food, they chatted. Syndra asked Kou questions, he asked her some more, Zed sat between them, joining in with Kou when telling Syndra stories, and they all laughed. Zed couldn't be happier even if he tried, Syndra looked as if she was really enjoying herself.

It had been a long time since Zed had felt this happy. For years, he led a simple, but repetitive life. His progress with controlling his powers had been slow, and even slower in recent months. Syndra's happiness radiates through the room, even though she spoke no words, the warmth of her personality could be felt by both Zed and Kou, but for Zed, there was something about her which spoke a thousand words. Something that felt new, invigorating, and above all, soft. He wasn't yet sure what this feeling was, but what he did know, was that for the moment, she was sat next to him, and in that moment, he had never felt such warmth in his heart.

Once they had chatted over food, they rested for a short while. Syndra nearly fell asleep in fact, and Kou felt as though he would burst. It was 1:25, they decided it was time to go back to class.

It was time to show off what they can do.


	7. Chapter 7

The classroom was bustling with excitement, everyone was ready for the afternoon ahead of them. It was time for everyone to show off what they can do, a time to get feedback on their progress with the control and the strength of their power. The tables had all been moved around, the middle of the room was empty, everyone stood around the sides of the room, littered around in friend groups.

Zed, Kou and Syndra were stood together, away from everyone else. Syndra was excited. The thought of losing herself to the Sovereign loomed in the back of her head, but she reasoned with herself, she knew she wouldn't be fighting, so the chance of her losing control would be very low. This gave her confidence, she felt and looked determined.

"You seem ready, how do you feel?" Zed asked, and Syndra just nodded with a smile. She was ready.

"Good afternoon! Now, no need for any tuition, you know what to do."

She paused for a moment before looking around the room, trying to choose someone to pick first. Everyone waited eagerly. Who would she pick to go first? What would they do? The anticipation couldn't be helped. She stopped turning around, the pointed finger landed on..

"Zed. Come up here."

With confidence, and feeling a bit dopey, he stepped up, he'd been thinking about what to do for a while, it had been a long time since they had a practical lesson, nonetheless, he was ready.

"When you're ready." Karma spoke softly and patted him on the back, she took a few steps toward the chairs and tables. Zed put his arms to his side and concentrated. He looked over at Syndra and Kou with a smirk, then to Tryndamere, he closed his eyes and concentrated once more. The shadows from beneath everyone's feet were being siphoned from the room, and was being pulled into Zed's own shadow, he took a step back, and in front of him, stood a near exact copy of himself, identical looking, like a twin. It looked around the room. Faces were painted with impressed smiles and expressions of awe and amazement. Syndra was especially impressed, she hadn't seen it before, she stood, having an impulsing feeling to use her powers too. Zed began dancing with the shadow, moving slowly, as if he were meditating, it mirrored his movement. Syndra was becoming inspired by his movement, by the way the shadow was moving with him, she wanted to join in, she moved her fingers with his movement, and slowly and small orb appeared at her hands, her finger movements gradually moved into hand movements, the orbs were gradually growing in size, Kou grabbed her hand and stopped it from moving, and with that, the orbs disappeared.

"Careful." He whispered to her. He slowly let go of her hand, she looked up to him and he smiled. Zed's shadow suddenly stopped copying Zed, they were facing away from each other. With a swift movement, the shadow dashed at Zed with such speed, he flicked his wrist and conjured a shuriken of shadow, he launched it at the shadow, it disappeared. The remaining clouds of shadow sunk to the floor and were pulled back under everyone's feet. Everyone watched the shadows gradually return to them, Zed spoke with a dark demeanor.

"Remember that." He turned and walked backwards towards Syndra, before looking over to Tryndamere and laughing maniacally, he turned into a shadow, and several other 'Zeds' appeared throughout the room, they all darted towards Tryndamere, some jumped at him, others ran. He fell backwards and cried out in fear, which amused everyone in the room. Zed appeared back to Syndra, he stood, with a smirk painted on his face and his arms crossed. Syndra and Kou started laughing, and so did everyone else, even Karma chuckled a little bit, she tried to compose herself before talking again.

"Ok.. thank you, Zed." She spoke, trying not to laugh. Tryndamere stood up, ashamed, his blade lay next to his feet on the floor, in anger, he picked it up and launched it at Zed, he dashed out of the way using a shadow, but the blade was caught by Syndra, she had used her magic to capture it in a veil of purple magic, in frustration, she held it for a few seconds, she really wanted to throw it back at Tryndamere, but she decided against it, she instead dropped it. Her hands were reaching out, like a pair of claws, after a few seconds, she lowered them, and looked over to Tryndamere. Karma pouted in anger, and sent Tryndamere out. He stormed out, and a smashing of glass could be heard down the corridor.

A few people stepped out to inspect the damage, he had punched a window, the smashed pieces lay scattered, followed by drops of blood. As he walked, he swung his fist, and as he swung his fist, the drops of blood formed a pattern, in a line following him from behind.

Some of the girls in the class were dismissive of him, they laughed and walked back into the classroom, Ashe however, stared at Zed and Syndra, she pushed past them and did a little jog ti catch up to Tryndamere, Zed and Syndra stayed and watched. Ashe grabbed his hand and looked it over, she placed a gentle kiss, and out her arm around his waist, they walked away together, he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. Zed and Syndra awkwardly looked at each other, Syndra turned and walked back into the classroom. Zed blushed at the idea of them kissing, it was something he had warmed his thoughts up to.

The afternoon continued on, with each person stepping up to show their skills. Kou had discovered that with his magic, he could actually grow flowers, and do some other less-intensive stuff. He was stood in the middle of the classroom, feeling confident.

"What I'm going to show you is not necessarily my power, or the strength of it for that matter.. But rather, how beautiful it is." He kneeled down and laid his hands flat on the ground, after a few months, vines grew from in between the floorboards. He slowly lifted his hands up, and they continued to grow. Spiralling upwards, until reaching head height.

"I discovered that my powers of controlling the elements isn't just for destruction or power, but it can actually create and harbour life." He gestured his hands towards a set vines of vines, pulling them towards him, and sprouting beautiful flowers simultaneously. The class gasped in awe, some began clapping, and Karma felt very impressed.

"Excellent work Kou, a truly beautiful gift." She walked towards Kou, admiring the multitude of colourful flowers sprouting. "This is an example of you can all do. All of you can bring in an element of beauty somewhere. You just have to dig down to your centers, and pull it out from the rubble of your crushed souls." The class started chatting, as Karma walked back to her place, she dismissed Kou, and took a blue flower from a vine and placed it in her hair. She felt very proud.

The day continued, people began talking more about what they could do, rather than just trying to look fierce or scary. Kou had truly inspired the class to dig deep down into their core, into what can create something beautiful. Many people in the class attempted dances to incorporate their magic, some failed, some worked. Syndra was struggling for ideas, she didn't know what she was going to do in the first place, this speech has thrown her off. Zed nudged her.

"Are you alright? You don't seem that interested.." She turned her attention from his eyes to her book, she began to write. Meanwhile, Ashe had returned to the classroom, and it was her turn, the opted for a display on the powers of Avarosa's bow, the arrows of ice that formed at her fingertips gave her endless possibilities. She had asked previous for a set of target dummies to be set up, she jumped and ran around, hitting every single one perfectly.

Zed's mind got lost between trying to concentrate on what was happening, and forgetting about Syndra in a weird daze.

' _I'm stuck for ideas, I don't know what to do!_ ' He read the page with intrigue.

"So this was the problem.. Why don't you juggle or something?" He said it with confidence, even Kou thought his misheard the conversation.

"Juggle?" He chimed in, confused. Syndra stared at Zed, if she could tell him to shut up, she would. Zed shrugged his shoulders.

"What? No one else will have done it.."

"I think there is a reason for that.." Kou replied. Syndra had a final thought of what to do, she sat down, pen in hand, and furiously wrote in her notebook. Kou leaned over to get a better look at what she was doing.

"I'm assuming you have an idea now?" She didn't even look at him, she simply nodded. Zed turned his attention back to the room, Ashe did a backflip and instantaneously shot an arrow on landing. Hitting an apple from the top of a dummies head. She bowed for the class, and everyone clapped and cheered. She walked back to her place, and another person stepped up, this time, it was Callero's turn, to display her powers of time warping. She could create portals that went some distance, as well as stopping time - briefly - and rewinding time through the use of her magic.

The afternoon continued, Syndra requested that she go last, and Karma allowed her to. She was the last person to stand up to the middle of the room, she knew what to do, she passed Zed her notebook, with a line at the top telling him ' _Read this, please'_ , with courage she stepped up, she took a deep breath in, and after a moment's pause, she breathed out and sat down with her legs crossed, she closed her eyes and opened her hands so that they were resting on her knees. Zed began speaking.

"She gave me some notes to read so.. Beauty is something we all have, and something we all share, in one way or another…" Zed read the scribbles with intrigue. She concentrated and attempted to summon spheres to surround the room. After a few seconds, small black and purple things began floating around the room in a circular motion around the room.

"My beauty is in two forms, number one being my face, of course." The class laughed, Syndra smirked, her eyes still closed. Zed smiled.

"And number two being my curse…" He walked around her at a distance as the orbs spun around the room at a slow pace, they grew and grew as time passed, many reached out to grab them but they could not be touched

"All magic is a curse, regardless of how you obtained it, but ultimately, light can come from the darkest of places..."

The spheres started to change their colour, some shifted to a crimson red, others to a sky blue, and some even had their shapes altered altogether. It took Syndra a great deal of concentration, but the orbs were slowly morphing into something else, they became lighter in colour.

"My powers are dark, I am partially controlled by a dark entity, but she cannot take control of me or my real magic forever."

She lifted her hands to the sky, the orbs began spinning faster and faster, the light emitted from them became brighter, no one knew where to look, it was like a light show. She struggled to hold the magic, but alas, she stood up, slowly and threw her hands down towards the ground, when she opened her eyes, a swarm of hummingbirds flew around her in a pack. All of them singing a peaceful and happy tune. She lifted a hand and one sat on her pointed out finger. The others flew out of the classroom, and after a few seconds, the lone one followed suit.

The room was silent. She awkwardly started moving back to her place before people slowly started clapping and cheering. The room lit up with happiness, everyone was impressed with her magic.

"Fantastic Syndra! What an amazing end to the day." Karma spoke, she had an upbeat tone of voice.

"You may all leave! See you tomorrow!"

.

Zed stood in awe, holding the book, and he couldn't help but think that, she really was amazing


	8. Chapter 8

Before everyone knew it, it was Friday again. The week was a breeze for Syndra, dull at moments, and often she felt like falling asleep during lesson time, but boredom was soon vanquished thanks to the company of Zed and Kou. The three of them were walking back to their rooms after another long day of lessons, Syndra was feeling particularly drained of her energy, the week had finally caught up with her in the form of a horrendous bout of sleepless nights, she couldn't get used to sleeping in a completely different place. Kayn decided to join the trio this evening, they had decided that each one of them would take it in turns as hosts for lunch and dinner, though they would have to fend for themselves for their breakfast. Today, it was Kou's turn to cook for the group.

"Syndra, are you sure that you feel ok? You look.." Kou started.

"..Like shit." Kayn finished. Zed rolled his eyes.

"Do you mind? It's been a long week.." Kayn looked at Zed, just his tone of voice said it all, Kayn frowned and put his arm around his shoulder.

"Zed, I have to say.. you look like shit too. What is up with you man?" Zed shrugged him off, he rubbed his weary face with his hands.

"I feel like shit.. Last weekend has caught up with me, and-" He looked over at Syndra mid sentence.

"Don't drag Syndra into this! To be honest, you've been looking like shit for weeks.. what's going on with you?"

Zed sighed, for he knew he would have to explain the whole medication thing to Kayn. It bothered him, he was embarrassed by it, he didn't want to seem weak.

"I've been put on stronger meds.. they're quite.. desensitising.."

"Oh, you're on medication?" Kayn asked, cluelessly.

"Yeah, have been, since the first day I was here.."

"I remember that! You nearly fucking slaughtered Tryndamere! Hahaa!" Zed smiled but no amount of laughter was enough to give him energy.

"I'll not forget that day, it was scary at first but after a while, we learned to laugh about it!" Kou jested. They had finally reached Kou's room. He unlocked the door, Syndra pushed her way past and made her way towards the sofa in a zombie-like state, they all stood and watched. She looked and felt drained, she wanted to go to bed, but she wanted the free food.

"You can go to sleep in your own bed, you know, you don't have to stay here." Kou spoke aloud. They walked in, one after the other, she shook her head in response, flopped onto the sofa and lay on her side, facing away from the group, she shrugged her shoulders and sighed. Zed looked at her with weary eyes.

"I guess she's tired, I feel it too. She hasn't even bothered to take her shoes off." He kicked his shoes off with minimal effort and walked towards the sofa, he tapped Syndra's legs, she pulled them closer to her chest and readjusted her head. Zed sat down and rested his arm on the back of the chair, he leaned his head back and looked at Kou and Kayn, they were taking their shoes off. Kou started cooking straightaway, Kayn sat down at the coffee table, he adjusted the cushion and leaned forward on the table, holding his head. He looked at Zed, his eyes were closed.

"So.. Uh.. You guys learn or do anything new this week?" He asked, trying to spark up a conversation.

"No.. Same thing.. As always.. I can't do a lot on this medication.. For you guys, it's like baby steps, and for me.." Zed spoke with an undertone of sarcasm with a mix of tiredness, and lack of sleep.

".. Ant steps." Kou interjected. Zed pointed in his direction with lackluster enthusiasm, a sign of agreement.

"Is it really that difficult for you to progress?" Kayn asked, intrigued.

"Yeah.. " Zed sounded more deflated than usual. In reality, he couldn't be bothered to open his mouth to talk, resting on a comfy sofa was enough to tip him over the edge to being closer to falling asleep. Kayn felt even more awkward at the short answer, he tried to think of something else to say, but ultimately couldn't think of anything. He resorted to standing in the kitchen walkway idly whilst Kou slaved away cooking. He spoke if a soft, quiet tone of voice.

"So, seeing as these guys are.. pretty much out for the count.." Kayn had a tone of intrigue in his voice, as though he was about to suggest something.

".. Yes? I'm listening.." Kou spoke louder than Kayn wanted.

"Sssh! I'm just wondering.. are you interested in.. having a drink, at all?" Kou raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, but he was interested in going.

"Yeah." He turned around and looked at Zed and Syndra, Zed's arms were now crossed, they both looked peaceful, and comfortable.

"Yeah, I am, actually. Once this is cooked, I'll come with you." Kou smiled, as did Kayn. Zed and Syndra were catching Kayn's eye. He looked at them both, he felt happy that Syndra fitted in with them, even happier that she is part of the right crowd.

"She's settled in quite nicely, hasn't she?" He continued to speak softly.

"Yeah.. It's so nice to see Zed like this. Happy."

"True, I've never seen a happy Zed. I hope he stays like this for a while."

"I hope so too. Then he won't need that damn medication anymore." Kayn was particularly interested in the medication side of things, he wanted more details without being too invasive.

"What's.. With that? Why is he on such strong meds?" Kou sighed at the question, but he really wanted to share the answer.

"He has nightmares. But not ordinary nightmares like you and I." He gestured at Kayn with whatever kitchen utensil he was holding.

"His nightmares wake him up in the middle of the night, to the point where he's short of breath, he feels like he's being suffocated. I've seen him, gasping for air when he's asleep."

"..So it's not a nightmare.. It's real?" He questioned with a concerned undertone.

"I don't know, and he doesn't know either, his dreams are so vivid, and detailed, without the meds he can recall every single detail."

"Shit.. That must be terrifying."

"It is.. The first medications he was on weren't strong enough, he had to share a room with me for a while, that night I heard him, gasping for air, hyperventilating.. He even moved backwards and hit his back and head on the wall, he freaked me out."

"How old were you guys?"

"He hadn't been here long.. So.. 14 years old?"

"Shit you guys have been here a long time."

"I know, don't remind me.. The first time it happened - when he backed up towards the wall, he thought I was.. Someone else, or something else, he can never remember faces. He just cowered in fear, didn't even try to fight, or reach out to me." Kayn shook his head in reponse, unsure of what to say.

"Then another time, he just screamed. It was so.. Not Zed. He'd had a few weeks of peaceful sleep, then out of the blue, that was it, he just woke up, screaming. Said the room was covered in shadowy figures, and that they were closing in on him, trying to kill him."

"Were there? Any shadows, I mean?"

"I saw nothing. I felt nothing, I heard nothing. But to him..." They both looked over.

".. It was like hell being unleashed onto him."

...

"Foods ready guys!" Kou spoke in an upbeat tone of voice.

Syndra stretched her arms out and turned over, looking very dazed. Kou handed her the plate of food, she sat upright on the sofa with it in her lap. Zed was handed his plate, he sat next to her. He looked at Kayn, he seemed bored and tired, his eyes weren't heavy though, his face just looked emotionless.

"You ok?" Zed asked in a monotone voice.

"Yeah, just.. Tired. I might go for a drink later, maybe after this.. I need to wake up.."

"Drink? Like alcohol, you mean?" He said with a stuffed mouth.

"Yeah, with Tryndamere."

"Oh, well, have fun I guess."

"I'll try, only ever really hung out with him once or twice before, he's.. A bit off don't you think?"

"The way he goes around touching girls you mean?" Kou appeared and sat next to Kayn.

"He doesn't really do that guys, come on."

"He really does, Syndra and I overheard him talking about what he'd do to her…" Zed looked at Syndra, she shook her head and grabbed the notebook from her bag.

"Really?!" Kou and Kayn spoke in sync, both of them were shocked.

"Really. I was showing Syndra around the school on Monday morning, we were in the classroom, for the sake of avoiding conversation with him, we hid. He said he'd.." Zed sighed, and hesitantly repeated the words. Kou and Kayn listened in a bit closer.

".. Do things to her.. And he made this.. grunting noise.."

 _'It made my blood boil..'_ He thought.

"That's just disgusting… You still thinking of going tonight?"

"Not now.. Damn. I was really hoping the stuff I heard was just rumours." Kayn spoke in a deflated and defeated tone of voice. Syndra ripped the piece of paper from the notebook and placed it on the table, she continued eating. Zed picked it up and read it, he chuckled.

"I don't doubt you." He passed it over to the other two who also got a smile over what she wrote.

"Not a bit." She smiled back at Zed.

' _I'd put up a fight before I let him touch me.'_

...

Some time had passed and everyone had finished eating. Zed and Syndra were walking their way back to his room, Kou and Kayn had instead gone to meet with some girls. They seemed more awake now that they had eaten, but Syndra still seemed lethargic. At the end of the corridor, some figures could be seen lurking in the corner, he couldn't quite make out the faces, nor the voices, but they sounded pretty deep. He turned his attention back to Syndra, who was waiting for him to unlock the door.

"Don't know who it is down there.. I can assume who it is though.."

Zed put the key in the lock and turned it, it clicked, and he pushed the door open, gently pushing in Syndra whilst looking at the figures in the corner, who had stopped talking. Zed turned to walk through, and he shut the door behind him.

"I'm locking the door, do you mind at all?" Syndra shook her head in response, he placed the key back into the lock and turned it, he instead however left the key in this time. He turned away from the door and walked over to his sofa, where a blanket was placed over the back. Syndra took the key out and handed it back over to Zed who was now sat down.

"Oh, leave the key in, I won't lose it that way."

She shrugged and put the key back in the door, when footsteps, and then whispering could be heard outside Zed's room. Syndra stood on her tiptoes and looked through the peephole in the door, her face formed into a frown, she turned and gestured to Zed.

"What is it?" He stood up inquisitively and walked towards the door, the closer he got, the quieter the voices became. He looked through the peephole, but nothing was there.

"No one there." He looked at Syndra with a confused facial expression. _Tryndamere,_ she mouthed to him, but he shook his head in response. She pushed him out of her way with such force that his back hit the wall, she stared with angry eyes through the peephole, but also saw nothing.

"Ow! Do you mind?!" She reached for the door handle and tried to turn the key, Zed stepped forward and yanked her hands away, she looked up at him, still frowning, she pulled her wrists free and rested a hand on the handle, with her other hand, she conjured a sphere and had it ready to aim if she were to pen the door. He looked at her with alert eyes.

"Do not let him trick or torment you." His face and his voice meant he was serious, she hadn't seen him like this before, he was intimidating, but the anger she was feeling overwhelmed the sense of sincerity. But not for long.

"He's trying to provoke you on purpose, he knows you'll attack him, but he also knows your weakness." He had lowered his tone, and he looked her dead in the eyes, with a look of sincerity, and almost longing, a longing to not allow her to be hurt. "He is a nasty piece of work, he'll get to you in ways you can't even imagine. And now you're like me - Weaker than the rest, with both of us together, we don't stand a chance of fighting him." He slowly reached for her wrists, she instinctively stood her ground with him, even though she was weaker than she had been, and not to mention she was nearly a foot shorter.

His touch was warm and gentle, she was expecting him to be more forceful, more rugged, but he was soft. She allowed her arms to be pulled into his chest, he held her there for a few moments, looking at her, her face relaxed, and her magic disappeared. His voice was the softest she had ever heard it, it sounded sincere, caring, and kind of sexy. It melted her into a puddle, she let her guard down completely, she suddenly felt so vulnerable.

"Please, you need to trust me." He moved his hands to interlock with her soft, pale fingers, and he placed a gentle but warm kiss on the back of her hand. She daren't resist, anger had faded from her mind.

"I don't want you to get hurt." They stood there in silence, looking into each others eyes with a sense of longing.

 _'You're in love with her aren't you? How sweet.'_ The gravelly, empty and ghastly voice boomed through Zed's head, he fell to one knee on the floor, holding his head in pain. _'You'll destroy her in a flurry of anger, her small body would fracture at the slightest grip from your hand.'_ When he looked up, he could only see Syndra, stood in a defensive position, with magic in each hand, staring behind him. The voice was so loud, he couldn't hear the door being knocked down.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Hello! There was another significant gap between chapters, so I hope this makes up for it. Please keep in mind that this is mostly OOC, and I'm not sure if I've already said, but I have taken some inspiration from the Zed and Syndra korean comic, just so you know where the separate entities 'idea' came from for Syndra. Please enjoy!

* * *

The door burst open with great force, it knocked a hole in the wall where the handle sat, Syndra didn't even look at who was entering, she sent a relentless flurry of spheres towards the doors entrance, Zed turned and scrambled backwards, hitting Syndra's foot, but she didn't even flinch. His sight was blurred, and voices weren't clear, but he saw a block of something jolt backwards, and groan in pain, she'd thrown someone across the wide hallway. They sunk further and further into the door of the opposite bedroom, her flurry quickly died down though, and she staggered, her powers were already fading, or so it seemed.

She fell backwards and fainted, but was caught by an invisible figure, a puff of smoke appeared, and Evelynn's curvaceous figure became more clear and the smoke disappeared. Zed's head was still ringing, he couldn't quite hear anything properly, but he felt Syndra being dragged away, his face lit up with fury. He tried to get up, out of instinct to grab back at her, but she'd been dragged across the apartment to the glass doors, where curtains were flapping in the wind. He just about had enough focus to make out a curvaceous figure, with pink hair.

"Just a drop of poison, nothing too fancy. I was going to use it on you, but a better opportunity arose." Her voice was so smooth and seductive, it made her sound so sure of herself. He staggered and leant against the wall for support.

"Let go of her, you bitch!" He lunged forward, fists at the ready when he was pulled backwards and thrown to the ground with great force, the air escaped his lungs. He tried gasping for breath, but it felt as though his muscles had forgotten how to work.

"Are you really going to try and fight us? It's just you now." Tryndamere grabbed a fistful of hair and stood over him, with his dirty smirk. Zed tried to to hit him, but his throws just weren't hard enough, and Tryndamere laughed off the punches, igniting a spark of pure fire in Zed's body.

' _No, that's exactly what he wants.'_ He thought.

"Go on, attack me again. There's nothing you can do this time, is there? You hardly did enough damage the first time, what's the matter? Meet a girl and you all soft on me?" He forecfully jerked Zed's head to the side, still pulling on his hair. Tryndamere pushed Zed into the wall, and he fought the urge to fight back, though the same brain destroying voice was beckoning him to strike.

' _Summon me, go on. You can kill him in an instant, I will help you.'_

' _No, I won't do it.'_

' _You're too weak.'_

"I am not WEAK!" He fell to the floor and clutched his head in pain, the sudden jolt made Tryndamere let go. Darius appeared from the doorway with Ashe in tow, he was rubbing his head, he was struggling to stand.

"Looks like she still got a good number on you." Ashe inspected him up and down.

"No kidding. What she did damn well hurt, but it didn't last long. Pft, she really is weak."

"So is he, look at that, pathetic." She stood with folded arms, looking down at Zed with a disgusted facial expression. He was reduced to a quivering mess on the floor, curled in a fetal position, blind and deaf to what was happening. She gently pushed Tryndamere out of the way, and kicked Zed in the stomach several times. They all stood watching and laughed.

"Pathetic." She landed several kicks to the head, and to his stomach. He suddenly felt searing pain in his abdomen, but didn't know why. The room was spinning, was he in a room? He couldn't remember now. Helt felt numb, but warm, with a pulsating shock on his abdomen, and head.

One last thud to the floor was all he could manage before completely blacking out.

…

Zed was the first one to wake up. His head felt heavy, his arms were tired, his stomach ached, and most of all, he couldn't move. There was a single, dim light hanging from the low ceiling above him, and it took a while for his eyes to register what he could see. It was really dark, wherever he was. He was surrounded by boxes, all stacked messily with various pieces of equipment hanging out of them. Rope, shovels, even a tub of paintbrushes. The floor was worn, and has splashes of paint, all different dull colours, he noticed Syndra sitting away from the light, he wouldn't have been able to see her if it weren't for her silvery hair. Her head was tilted down, she was still out cold.

He didn't feel panicked, he felt calm, and collected, but positively searing with pain, with a small sprinkle of the feeling of intimidation.

"S-Syndra?" His voice was hoarse and dry, and then it dawned on him that they were both tied to chairs, seemingly in a shed. It was dark. Very very dark. He tried to move his arms but to no avail, they were tied to the arms of the chair very well, so were his legs. He wriggled and moved as much as the small amount of leeway on the ropes would allow, but it was no good. He looked at Syndra again, she didn't move.

He looked around the room some more, he could see easier now that his eyes had adjusted. He noticed a clock on the wall, handing sorrowfully above a small desk, and next to a window. It was dark, really really dark. He squinted and tried to focus on the clocks tiny arms.

2:33.

His heart started to beat a little bit faster, he no longer was affected by his medication, he felt.. Stronger, and suddenly, not so intimidated.

"Syndra?" He spoke louder, still no response. He watched her for a few minutes and wasn't sure if she was breathing or not. He paid close attention, his heart began to thud with anxiety, he looked at her, her droopy head, her still chest, it all looked wrong.

"Syndra?!" No response, she definitely wasn't moving. He wriggled about, trying anything to get free of the chair, he jolted and moved the chair closer, bit by horrid, panicked bit, but he was too forceful, and the chair fell over on its side. His head hit the wooden floor, his brain felt like it really hit the side of his skull, but he ignored it as best as he could, he focussed in on Syndra, and noticed a thick black - no, red - line across her neck, blood started to pour from the line as though it were a fountain, and then from the ceiling, thick patches of red spread over the small area began to seep thick, congealed streams of blood, then the laughter started.

His shadow burst into a fit of laughter, appearing on the floor next to him sat in a similar position, it laughed as his pain, his sadness, and Zed could feel the blood touching his face.

It was everywhere, and it all happened so fast, it was rising quickly, and the shadow stayed in the same position, allowing itself to be swallowed by the sea of blood, until it's laughters became desperate sounds for air. Zed lifted his head as much as he could, turning his head to the side to keep his face above it, but it was rising even faster. He inhaled just before it covered him, but it wasn't enough, he couldn't breathe.

 _ **And that was when he woke up for real.**_

He desperately gasped for air as though his life depended on it, like he'd never get the chance again, he couldn't see a thing, he hadn't fully realised he was out of the nightmare yet, he shook his head, and felt something covering his eyes, then his hands and legs… He also felt something warm to his back, something moving and breathing, it made a muffled, panicked sound.

"S-Syndra? Is that you?" He sounded like he'd ran for hours, and couldn't get enough air in his lungs. There were other people there, he could sense them, they were standing, staring. She made a muffled sound in response, still sounding panicked. He turned his head, trying to determine the logistics of how they were positioned. His hands were behind his back, he moved them frantically trying to find Syndra's, she was doing the same thing, and they held onto each other in whatever way they could.

"This is quite cute don't you think? Nothing is more romantic than being in bondage, no?" Evelynn's voice rang in his ears, and snapped him back to reality, all the fear had gone, anger replaced it.

"What the _hell_ is going on?" He gritted his teeth and wriggled about, trying to get free. Echoing footsteps loomed closer. He felt a soft breeze to his face as the person stopped moving.

"We thought we would do something a little bit more exciting this time! Seeing as the dean didn't even bother to put a notice on our last… What do you call this?"

"A beating." Darius chimed in, voice low and gruff sounding.

"Yeah, consider it another lesson in self-control, you pathetic weak willed orphan." Ashe spoke in such a confident manner, there was plenty of sarcasm, and her voice held a heavy tone of authority to it, he could imagine her standing with her arms crossed, chin held up high with Tryndamere standing nearby, she was that predictable.

"Such a naughty boy!" Evelynn exclaimed, ruffling the weaves of his black, shaggy hair.

"Why do you have to touch every male you come in contact with? I can't imagine the amount of diseases you spread." He said it with a laugh, he felt a chuckle from Syndra but couldn't hear much, he supposed she'd been gagged, but had no idea why. Without hesitation, a kick was delivered straight to his chest, he tried not to groan in pain, tried not to give into their satisfaction, but it was a damn hard kick to an already (probably) bruised body.

His hair was pulled back, and tape was slapped over his mouth.

"Boys who run their mouths get what's coming to them you know, I wanted to give you a chance to come to an agreement, but you made a _huge_ mistake." Whoever had a hold of his hair let go by throwing his head forward, making him feel even more disorientated.

The weight against his back disappeared, he tried to let out muffled shouts of protest, but was kicked in the leg. Syndra was picked up and moved, her back leant against a cold wall, and her blindfold was ripped off, a flood of light blinded her for a few seconds, she tried to work out where they were, but it took some time for her eyes to adjust to her surroundings.

"So instead we'll just let her watch the show! She needs to know where we stand in this school, so why not let it be known?" Evelynn again, speaking with a deadly amount of enthusiasm.

Her eyes had mostly adjusted, revealing a small, box like area, with a table, and a cupboard, and two chairs, which were occupied by Ashe and Tryndamere. They were in the school, at their little spot where they hid earlier on in the week. She looked at Zed's face, it was still perfect, not a bruise or scratch in sight, yet. His shirt and trousers were a different story altogether, they were ripped, and even had small patches of blood here and there. Her heart ached for him, she couldn't begin to imagine what sort of pain he was in. The feeling of empathy was quickly overtaken by a sense of anger and disgust.

' _Why would they even do this? What's the point?'_ She frowned, trying to piece something together.

And then it all started. The kicking, the punching, the completely senseless beating, and it seemed to go on forever.

"Is this what you call a beating? I had better from my brother when we were children." He spoke loudly, trying to divert their attention. Ashe stood in frustration.

"He's still conscious, knock him out! I don't want to hear any more bullshit!" They continued beating him, and Syndra could feel herself becoming stronger, angrier, feeling a desperate need to ask the sovereign for help. Her eyes began to glow light purple, but grew in intensity, they were getting darker. Darius noticed first.

"Woah, woah, she's doing that thing!" He sounded concerned and pointed at her, they all stopped what they were doing to watch Syndra carefully. Ashe didn't care much for a pair of glowing eyes, she scoffed and ushered them back to the task at hand.

"Ignore the light show, it's an empty threat." She spoke with such confidence, and dismissed her entirely, though the others kept watch, being as careful as possible, until she snapped the ropes that bound her. She stood up and threw the ropes to the side, standing ready to fight, Tryndamere jumped over Zed's limp body with great intensity and threw a punch to her face, but she raised a hand and knocked him back to the wall.

' _She didn't even use a damn sphere!'_ Syndra thought.

She clawed her hands up towards the ceiling as if she was lifting something heavy, and a black hole rippling with purple hues and smoke appeared at the floor, and Ashe, Tryndamere, Darius and Evelynn were pulled from the room, down into the dark, leaving a trail of screaming behind them, and now, it was just Zed and Syndra alone. She turned to look at Zed, took off the tape covering her mouth and sighed.

"I do wish they would realise they cannot best me, not even with their strongest efforts." Her voice sent chills down Zed's spine, there was some eerie about how old fashioned her voice sounded.

"Do not fret. You have shown mercy to the girl, you look after her, which I appreciate." She kneeled down and gently took the tape from Zed's mouth, and then his blindfold, he watched with careful, skeptical of what it was she was saying, the last time the sovereign took control, bad, destructive things happened. She studied his face, looking at his eyes, his mouth, trying to decipher what he was feeling.

"You are stronger, are you not? Your… What do you call it again… Medication, yes… Your medication has no effect on you at the moment… I feel your power. Would you like to hear some… Advice?" Her voice was old. An old accent, really regal, everything she said sounded as though it should be taken, word for word. Zed's ears perked up.

"Y-yeah, I think I would, actually." He had a sense of curiosity and intrigue, then she began to pull at the ropes, they ripped with an unsettling amount of ease. It was amusing Zed so see Syndra's small frame be able to do something so strong. He sat up and rubbed at his wrists, ropes were itchy, and he paid close attention to what the sovereign was saying.

"I am an ancient being, this I'm sure you have come to realise. I have seen magic come and go through the ages, new magic be made, old magic be rediscovered and made anew." He stood up, feeling a stinging pain from his stomach, but he still held out an offering hand to her.

"Your power is no exception. I did not know the last person who wielded it personally, but I know enough to offer some advice." She gently grabbed his hand, and with her nail, began to cut deep scratches into Zed's wrist, he flinched and tried to back away in pain. It looked as though she was making a symbol, something he'd never seen before, the longer she did it for the more in control he felt, but something still unsettled him, and it made him feel as though everything about what she was doing was wrong.

"There…" She placed her hand on top of the symbol, purple smoke and light emitted from Zed's wrist, and it felt really hot, but it promptly turned red, then it went cold, she let go and moved her hand to reveal a tattoo. A real, actual tattoo. The more he studied the intricate design, the more familiar it became, though, he can't recall ever seeing it.

"This is one of _many_ marks. Do you recognise it?" Her voice was soothing to Zed, and she sounded so sure of herself.

"Yeah, but.. I don't know where from.. It feels like.. It's been years since I saw it." He still had hold of his arm, he was studying the design as best as he could.

"You'll know soon enough." Her eyes began to fade. He looked at her with desperation for answers.

"Wait! Before you.. Go?" He held out his hand to gently grab her arm.

"Yes?" Her eyes were glowing again.

"How… Well… Why, I should ask… Are you not trying to, I don't know, _kill me_ or anything? Like the arena last week? You sound completely different." She looked at him with intrigue at his question, and let out a small chuckle.

"That was me in my full glory." She held out her arms as though she was preaching to the masses.

"This is me… More controlled. The girl is putting up a fight this time, I am being forced to hold back on my… Attitude." With the last word she had out a hand to caress Zed's face gently, nothing about that touch felt right to him, and what made him feel more uncomfortable was the change to a sultry tone and a confident smirk. He carefully plucked the hand away.

"So… Uh… What more can you tell me about this?" He held out his wrist, gesturing to the tattoo.

"So much more, but not now, my dear boy. She would like to come back to you. I shall depart and leave you be." As soon as she stopped talking, she staggered and fell backward, but was caught in a flash by Zed. Her eyes were closed, and with a droopy hand, Syndra rubbed at her eyes and tried to steady herself.

"Woah there.. You ok? You good?" He moved her hair out the way of her face, and slowly tried to stand her up. His question was shortly followed by a nod. He smiled, and slowly stood her up.

"I guess you saw this already." He kept hold of her when he showed her the tattoo. She took a glance at it and nodded, tracing a light finger over the bumpy skin. It looked wrong. She shook her head.

"What? She wouldn't let me go." She pushed away from him, walking slowly to the stairs. He felt conflicted, he felt better, but also couldn't help feel like it was a bad thing, every time he looked at it, he couldn't help but feel a small pulse of nausea.

He felt like he was in for a bollocking.

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OoOoOooOoooOOh.

Leave a review if you liked! Remember I take requests into consideration!


	10. Chapter 10

It was made very apparent to Zed and Syndra that the Sovereign had decided to dump Ashe, Evelynn, Tryndamere and Darius in the teachers dormitory, which wasn't a great decision on her behalf.

"What were you two thinking!" Karma was furious, she had taken Zed and Syndra aside to give them her own words of wisdom, or at least that's what she told the other teachers anyway.

They were stood outside the apartment complex, if you could call it that, it was small, there were only about 30 members of staff all in all, including the chefs, nurses and cleaners, but some lives together, and therefore shared, some had some more modest apartments, which weren't so massive, but on the outside, you could tell that their rooms were way bigger than the students rooms.

Needless to say, the night air was cold, and the moon shone brightly, Karma was wearing a long dressing gown, decorated with ornate dragons and gems (or sequins) that sparkled in the moonlight. Zed couldn't seem to care less, infact, he seemed rather pleased with himself. Syndra was nervous, a bit, mostly because it was her fault, but technically not her fault at the same time.

"Do you know why I pulled you two out here?" Her voice was still angry, but she lowered her tone slightly.

"To give us a bollocking?" Zed retorted.

"No- Yes- Well. It's both. First of all, you two, explain, how they ended up screaming in pain and fear outside our apartments!" She pointed at the door, then folded her arms, waiting for a response.

"Well if you must be aware dear teacher, we were being beaten up. Well, not Syndra, it was me they were after, they made her watch." He spoke with a more reserved tone, but still with a cocky attitude. Karma's eyes danced back and forth between Zed and Syndra, and her face slowly began relaxing.

"Again?" She sighed. "Ok… I'm afraid to say it, but this conversation will have to wait, but the conversation that cannot wait, is a conversation regarding this." She grabbed Zed's arm and pulled back his jacket sleeve, revealing the nauseating symbol. His cocky attitude disappeared, he jerked his arm back, but Karma didn't let go.

"Explain. Now." Her firm tone returned, she didn't take her eyes off Zed, not even for a second. He looked at Syndra, in desperation.

'This isn't good, it can't be good.' She thought.

"Ok… When the sovereign pulled the others through a portal, she offered me help, and she carved this symbol into my arm."

"Right, and how do you feel?"

"I feel… At ease. Like my power can't directly harm me anymore… It feels… Really empowering." She gently let go of his arm, and studied his face with her now cool and calm temperament. Empathising with the amount of anxiety that must have been alleviated, but also feeling as though two ancient magics working together doesn't sound good.

"Right… Dear pupil… Go. There is no point in pursuing anything now, the damage has been done." She backed away towards the doors and turned around, storming ahead into the building, moments later, shouting was heard from a window on the ground floor. Something about lying, then beating Zed up and causing potential damage to Syndra's abilities. They stood, watching shadows cast on the curtains, it was Karma, pacing around the room, venting her anger and ultimate frustrations.

Zed heard the handles click on the wooden doors, someone was coming out, Syndra barely noticed she'd been picked up, but he dashed to the tree right by the door and landed on a branch, _with_ Syndra in his arms but also with _perfect_ precision. She could only stare at him in a mix of disbelief and amazement, he did the same. Moments later the figure who left the building turned out to be none other than Kayn, and he looked… Suspicious. He was sneaking out of the place. With steady eyes, Zed followed his every move before he disappeared around the corner.

"This is odd, we must follow him." He spoke in a low tone. She nodded, Zed jumped to the ground, landing almost completely silently. He gently put Syndra down and grabbed her hand, heading in the same direction as Kayn. Round the corner of the building, about 15 metres away, Kayn was lowering himself off a short cliff, leading to a small, open pasture, and a river. Once he disappeared again, Zed and Syndra followed. They crawled along the floor, and peered over the edge of the cliff.  
The pasture was really small, no wild animals were seen, only the river weaving in and out of the edge of the forest below, but the whole field glistened as though diamonds had been thrown everywhere, it was truly beautiful in the moonlight. Their beady eyes followed Kayn to the edge of the forest, and he crossed a seemingly makeshift bridge, he picked up a lantern from a nearby rock, and shook it, emitting a greeny-yellow light.

"It's too obvious to follow him that way.." He looked around, trying to find another vantage point. Syndra pointed at the farthest edge of the cliff, it leaned over the forest clearing.

"Hmm, good idea. Come on." He grabbed her hand, and they steadily sneaked along the cliff, reaching the farthest point. He leaned over, looking for an opening.

"Do you trust me? We're going to have to jump." His face seemed so earnest, and safe. She really didn't want to do it, but she didn't have much of a choice. She squeezed her eyes shut, and felt the ground beneath her feet disappear, and for a moment, she felt completely weightless. She heard rustling and creaking, and the faint sound of footsteps.

"Look, there he is.." Zed spoke in a low, gruff voice. Kayn walked along a newly-beaten path, holding the lantern in front of him, and occasionally looking behind with tired eyes. Zed led Syndra along the network of branches, following Kayn a short distance into the forest, when a warm glow met their eyes through the branches. It looked like a.. Fire? Zed pulled Syndra along with less patience, desperate to follow Kayn and his bizarre behaviour.

They perched themselves just out of the way of the clearing, but in a good enough vantage point to hear and see everything. Kayn approached calmly to a fabric tent which lay behind the fire, and a figure in blacked out clothing approached him. Someone tall, broad shouldered, and very obviously strong.

"It is unlike you to come here at this time, has something happened?" The voice was low and cool, calm and collected. Zed could have sworn he recognised it, but wasn't sure, he edged onto the next branch, without Syndra in towe, she stayed where she was, holding onto the tree trunk for support.

"Yeah, there was an incident, with Syndra." Her ears pricked up, she followed Zed forward onto the next branch, and then the next, and the next one again.

"Hmm, was anyone else involved? Anyone… I should know about?" Still calm and cool, the sound is just there, who is it?

"Zed." Kayn spoke gingerly.

"Zed? Is he… Alright? Not hurt?" The coolness was gone, worry replaced calm, the voice lost it's recognisable tone, but he was in too deep to back out now. The figure sat down on a nearby tree stump, Kayn followed, sitting opposite and placing the lantern inbetween them.

"Not much, I don't think.. I couldn't see him, I could only hear the conversation. It sounds as though he'd been beaten up."

"Hmph.. Heh… He's a tough kid you know, if he's talking, then he's just fine." The figure removed his mask to reveal short, shaggy brown hair.

Zed's heart sparked, and started beating slightly faster. He stepped outward, crouching along the length of the branch.

Is that..?

He stepped out again, and again..

He heart jolted in his chest, and searing pain flowed through his whole body and he missed his footing. Without hesitation, the figure and Kayn stood ready to fight. Zed felt himself being picked up by the scruff of his shirt and pinned against the tree by the neck.

"Start talking!" The figure had a fist raised, ready to punch Zed. He instinctively tried to pry the hand away from his neck, it took him a hot moment to focus his vision, and when he did, his heart sank.

"Shen?"

"Brother?"

"What in the hell are you doing here?!" The grip loosened from his neck, and Shen took a step back, he looked Zed up and down. His wide shoulders, long legs, chiselled face.

"It really is you! You've.. Grown. Quite a lot.. You're more like a man rather than a child." His tone of voice was cool again, but with a slight happy glint to it.

"Answer my damn question! What are you doing here!" Zed felt a filtered form of fury. A conflict of two emotions.

"I couldn't allow father to just leave you here, it did not sit well with me, brother. This school does not allow visitors, and I had to.. Get creative. Your friend here offered a helping hand, to inform me of any trauma you face, or any problems you overcome." He gestured with his words, and everything sounded sincere. Zed wanted to embrace him so badly, but he felt so small in this moment, like a child.

"You." He pointed to Kayn. "When did this start? Before or after we became friends?"

"...After. I-"

"That's all I needed to hear. Why, brother? Why follow me after you dumped me here, forgot about me?! Left me to rot!"

"I did not leave you, it was father's decision, he saw no future in you-"

"Bullshit!" His words of anger echoed, Syndra stayed quiet, and stayed hidden in the safety of the branches.

"You shared that same vision! You said so yourself! You made yourself very clear, I am a child with no balance, a child with a cursed power!"

"Zed, I only said that to protect you, I couldn't let him know that I was on your side!"

"You have never protected me, not once in your damn life-"

He was knocked out cold by a flying kick to the head, expertly delivered by Kayn. Shen darted to Zed's limp body, his skin was hot, clammy feeling. Kayn joined him, and they kneeled on either side. Shen sensed an imbalance in Zed's mind and body, it took him only a few seconds to find the rune that was carved into his skin.

"This.. How did he get this? Who gave him it?" He spoke sternly, but calm.

"I-I don't know, what is it?"

"Syndra, where did he get this from? Do you know?" He spoke softer when addressing her, not wanting to intimidate her further.

She stood back, unable to fully concentrate. She hated conflict. She had no other choice but to point to herself.

"You..? How do you know this magic? It's at least a millennia old." He held Zed's arm carefully, being mindful not to take his eyes off of Syndra. She shook her head and rolled her eyes at herself in frustration. Kayn watched carefully, trying to decipher her mannerisms, until he got it, and clicked his fingers.

"Right, not you, is it? It's the sovereign?" She nodded.

"The sovereign.. Ok.. Is there a way we can speak with her?" She shook her head, and looked to Kayn for further explanation.

"She.. Kinda appears whenever, right? There's no real telling when she'll take over?" He said, unsure, but Syndra nodded in response. They both looked at Shen, with heavy eyes.

"This will have to wait.. But for now.." Shen raised a hand to Zed's forehead, a pale blue light emitted from his palm.

"He must not know I'm here."

"What are you doing?"

"Wiping his memory…"

"How do you know how far back to go?"

Shen hesitated to answer for a few seconds, he looked up at Syndra with warm eyes, and a small smile.

"I can see his memories." The blue light faded away, he removed his hand, and slowly stood up. He bowed before Syndra.

"You make my brother happy, he thinks.. Rather highly of you. I'm sorry that we had to meet like this." He outstretched arms towards her, and she accepted them. His hug was gentle, as though they were barely touching. She could feel his muscular, chiselled body underneath the clothes though. He was definitely bigger than Zed. He pushed back, and held her at arms length.

"When the time is right, we shall talk again. I fear that this rune does not bode well."


	11. Chapter 11

After a short while of struggling to carry Zed by themselves, Kayn had to go back and ask Shen for help.

He was tucked away into bed, his long black hair flower partially over his face. Shen leaned forward, and instinctively moved the hair from his face, and gently tapped his cheek. Kayn had already left to go back to his room.

"He'll be fine come morning. I think it's best you don't mention anything about seeing me, or following Kayn. Maybe tell him he slipped from the tree branch. You and I will need to talk at some point, however." He started to walk towards the balcony doors, they were already open, the curtains were flowing in the wind. He turned around and gently took Syndra's hand in his.

"I am glad he's met someone with a genuine heart. It's not your fault that you lose sight of control. We've all been there." He placed a gentle kiss on the back of her hand.

"Until next time." And just like that, he disappeared.

She felt.. Confused. She had so many questions. Is it normal for a young man to kiss the back of your hand and go? She closed the patio doors, locked them, and returned to Zed's room to steal some clothes. She toyed with the idea of going back to her own room, but instead decided to stay, it made for a better excuse if he really did slip and bump his head.

In the blink of an eye (well, not really) she was lying on the sofa, wearing Zed's clothes, and gently falling asleep.

…

She awoke to the sound of creaky floor boards, and was met with a half-naked Zed, hair dripping wet, a towel barely covering his lower half.

"Sorry haha, I thought I could sneak past you. Sleep ok?" He sounded happy, functional, ss though he was himself, without the help of medication. She nodded in response, still not looking in his direction.

"Good." She daren't look in his direction, but she could still hear the smile in his voice. It's starting to sound like genuine happiness, and for the first time in a long time, she couldn't help but smile. Shen's words replayed in her head, on a constant loop.

' _You make my brother happy, he thinks.. Rather highly of you._ '

' _He thinks highly of me? What does it really mean?'_

"So, I have a few questions." He came back into the room, and sat on the sofa opposite her, she still didn't want to look up.

"You can look now, I got dressed." She gingerly lifted her head, and gazed upon his dreamy face. Zed was handsome anyway. His face was chiseled, more akin to a man rather than a boy, but still maintaining those soft features of someone who hasn't quite matured yet.

"You've seen it all before anyway, remember?" He rested his head on the palm of his hand, smirking.

"That was only a week ago. Seems like it was much longer ago, doesn't it?" He sounded solemn, and his eyes drifted away from hers. She nodded in agreement. Although lessons were easy, the whole place was so dull. It felt like there needed to be something more.. Exciting.

"Yep, that's what this place does to you." He sighed, leaning back and folding his arms. "Anyway.. We need to talk about last night."

Uh oh. Panic struck her, 'What?! Does he remember?' She swallowed hard.

"What, exactly happened? I remember picking you up and that's it, fast forward to about 20 minutes ago when I woke up." He sounded confused, concussed almost. Ever since Syndra joined the school, Zed made an effort to make sure that there were pens and paper to hand, giving Syndra ample opportunity to speak for herself. She reached for the pen and paper, and starting writing. After a few seconds, she handed the notepad over to him.

'Jumped at tree, knocked self out, got help to bring you back.'

"Huh. That explains my stiff neck." 'That was because Kayn freaking kicked you!' He looked up at her and she nervously smiled back. "Who helped you?" a frown began forming on his face, not a nasty one, more of a frown of concern. She took the pad and pen back, then quickly handed it back.

'Kayn, I went and got him.' She studied him with extremely careful eyes, trying to not look nervous.

"Oh. I should go and thank him. Was he asleep when you went to him?" She shook her head.

"Ok. Well, it's currently 2:30, most of the day is gone.. We can still go hang out with him though, if you want?" She nodded in response and smiled.

"We'll take it easy, seeing as we were so brutally attacked." She giggled in response, and he offered a hand out to her, which she gladly accepted.


	12. Chapter 12

Thank you all so much for your positive feedback! I've had a few messages from people asking 'WHERE IS THE REST OF THE STORY GOD DAMN IT!" It's on it's way ok?!

I'm a few chapters ahead, so if I'm lagging in updates I do have a reserve to work from whilst I write the next part of the story. But yes, thank you so much, and I'm so sorry that this took too long to update please forgive me.

* * *

A few months had since passed by. Winter had reached it peak and leading upto the New Year, the school holds a kind of festival in order to celebrate, students could open up their own stalls, consisting of baked goods, art prints, or even selling tuition slots to the less experienced, or most ill-equipped students, but the one stall that caught Kayn and Kou's eyes was the kissing booth. After much resistance and arguing, Zed had insisted that he and Syndra were not going in the booth.

"Come on! It would be _so_ cute!" Kou shouted in a delighted manner.

"Yeah! You two are the talk of the school! Come on!" Kayn agreed, pushing Zed and Syndra in further. Syndra dug her heels into the ground with her back against Zed's. Bit by painful bit, she was sliding, wearing trainers was her only option for footwear, and they certainly aren't sodden-ground proof, there was that, and Zed was getting out-pushed by the two boys - Until Ahri walked by, and gasped excitedly.

"Yes, absolutely! Let me help!" She squealed, and without hesitation, pushed on Kou and Kayn's backs. Syndra slid forward into the curtained entrance, Zed quickly followed, but used his shadow and grabbed Syndra to dash out of the way. The three of them fell into the tent, onto the sopping wet and muddy ground. Syndra laughed, and the three of them responded by groaning out in pain. A huge breeze swept through the open field, it carried an awful chill, enough to get right down to the bones. She shivered and Zed put her down.

"Shall we go in? The fireworks will start soon, but I'm sure they're look just as beautiful behind glass." She hesitated for a second, and looked towards the huddle of friends on the floor, she nodded in agreement, and off they went, towards Syndra's room.

No one was in the building it seemed, and no one even thought to go back to their rooms, despite the obvious chill in the wind. It was refreshingly warm in Syndra's room, the heat breezed over their cold noses, as they walked in, and Syndra locked the door behind them - Something which had grown into a normal everyday habit They took off their coats and shoes, and made their way over to the glass door.

"As much as I prefer the simpler way of life.. I do love this modern technology." Zed grabbed a blanket from the back of the sofa, and wrapped it around himself and Syndra, and as though it were practised, they simultaneously sat on the floor together, waiting eagerly for the fireworks. The sky was beautifully lit, stars scattered all over, in all different colours, sizes, and in different patterns.

"Underfloor heating… Electric doors, electric lights. Makes life that little bit more simple." Syndra nodded in agreement.

"Though.. it does feel like it doesn't belong here. As we know, Ionia has a way of defending itself.. I just wonder how this was all built without any sort of reprimand or consequence…" he looked at Syndra, and she shrugged.

"Anyway…"

Kou, Kayn and Ahri were sat underneath a tree next to the apartment buildings, on the most cold and uncomfortable benches ever.

"I can't believe they made a run for it!" Kou exhaled in a huff, he crossed his arms, and leant back into the cold metal of the bench.

"Me neither! Imagine how cute it would have been if they really kissed in there!" Kayn also huffed and crossed his arms, feeling the cold sting of the wind.

"It doesn't matter, I managed to put a little charm on Zed!" Ahri giggled, and swayed her tail, sitting cross legged on the bench across from Kayn and Kou.

"What do you mean you cast a charm on him?" Kayn spoke, sounding concerned.

"It's nothing that you need to worry your pretty little heads over." She pouted.

"Ahri.." Kayn said sternly, demanding an answer. She sighed.

"Ah, fine.. To me, it's so _plainly_ obvious that those two are in love with each other, but they aren't moving anywhere with it! So, I decided to speed it up.." she stood up with her tail still high, and her arms crossed.

"Zed holds back his feelings for just about anything, and he _needs_ to let go, that's all I've done."

"So.. You cast a charm on him.. that stops him from.. caring?" Kou questioned.

"Not quite. It will allow to do exactly what he wants to do without thoughts of consequence holding him back. Zed, as we know, has issues with consequences - He simply won't do something if the chance of a negative consequence is there!"

Kou and Kayn immediately shot eyes at each other, their hearts dropped, adrenaline was mere moments away from kicking in, simultaneously thinking of hunting Zed down, incase he were to do something completely.. Wrong. But that feeling stopped when Ahri laughed.

"Hahahaaa! You two are so funny! Zed isn't a naughty boy when he's with Syndra, you're both so silly! He only wants to show her that he loves her, he really has no desire to hurt her." She started walking away.

"Bye! Oh, and by the way.." She turned on her heel to face them, and leaned forward, sporting the most devious of smiles. "I wouldn't recommend repeating this conversation to anyone, it's my little secret spell I've been working on, I need to see if it works properly, and another thing, they'll be fine. Though you might want to check in later, it could get messy." She winked, and waved a hand at them. They half-heartedly waved back, trying to grasp the conversation.

"So… Zed is madly in love with Syndra?" Kayn asked, befuddled.

"She, didn't... _SAY_ madly..."

"Well that's what I took from that conversation…"

They thought about it for a few seconds, their thoughts and ideas racing around their heads, going at the speed of light, each other's brain was thinking so loudly that they could barely process anything at all, and yet on the outside, they remained completely and utterly still…

...and silent…

...silence…

…

"WAIT SO DOES THAT MEAN SYNDRA'S IN LOVE WITH HIM TOO?" Both of them screamed at the same time. They looked at each other with shocked, yet determined facial expressions.

"I thought they were just really close friends-" Kayn shouted.

"-like best friends!" Kou continued, also still shouting.

"Yeah!..."

Their faces of concern quickly turned to happiness, they jumped at each other, laughing and hollering in complete joy, hugging and jumping, twirling around.

"Zed finally found someone that loves him for who he is! He finally gets to taste that bittersweet reality of a relationship!" Kou exclaimed.

"Who else would it have been?! There's no other girl in this place that's as...Just...Non judgmental as Syndra!" Kayn shot back in agreement.

"We should still go check on them though, afterwards, I mean."

"Hmm, yeah." It took them a few seconds to realise that they were still hugging, and they let go.

"Sorry."

"It's fine, don't worry." Kou smiled. And off they walked, back towards the fair, as the fireworks were about to begin.

"The fireworks should be starting soon.." Syndra's face was beaming, but she was also quite tired, like a small child, she was so excited to see the fireworks, as she'd never seen them before, but the lethargy was slowly starting to take over. She rested her head on Zed's shoulder, trying her best to keep her eyes open. He moved his shoulder slightly and looked down to her.

"Hey you better not fall asleep on me." He spoke softly. She looked up at him and smiled.

"You're so cute.." She froze in place, as Zed's face was coming closer to hers. He was never usually this forward, there was always a reason behind it, usually they were in danger, so his candidness goes unnoticed to her, but here, in her room, all alone, when mere minutes ago they were being pushed into a kissing booth, it felt so raw and real.

WhoOOooOsh!

...silence…

BANG!

She turned her head to look outside, more and more fireworks were going off, she stood up and walked to the door, completely dazed and in awe of the beautiful streams and flashes of colour appearing before her. There were fireworks of all colour, all going off at different times, Zed came to join her at the window, but he wasn't interested in the fireworks, when her smiling face was lit up in a multitude of colours, the excitement and happiness in her eyes made Zed's heart burst, and he wanted nothing more than to embrace her, to hold her..

She turned her head to look at his reaction, but was met with his soft and warm lips, she let out a small moan, and the sound of the fireworks faded away into nothing. She couldn't move, her heart was pounding hard, and she just stood there frozen in place. As Zed gently moved a hand to her waist to pull her in closer, she closed her eyes, and lifted her hands to place on his chest, and the two of them embraced each other, completely intertwined.

He pulled his head back, and as he did so, they both opened their eyes, sporting the rosiest cheeks ever seen, and the cutest, most content of smiles.


End file.
